Rast & "Pads" Among Big Stacks in Day 2 of $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship
After a fast-paced Day 1 that debuted a new structure for the 2023 World Series of Poker Championship Events, Event #10: $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship will pick back up today with Day 2 kicking off at 1 p.m. local time.
Leading the star-studded 58 players who bagged Day 1 is six-time bracelet winner John Hennigan with a stack of 309,500, while fellow big stacks Marco Johnson (297,500) and David "The Gunslinger" Bach (273,000) are respectively after their third and fourth bracelets.
Other notable players who ended Day 1 with a top ten stack include five-time bracelet winner Brian Rast, the popular Patrick "Pads" Leonard (who won a bracelet in the 2022 Tag Team event) and three-time bracelet winner David "Bakes" Baker.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Hennigan | United States | 309,500 |
| 2 | Marco Johnson | United States | 297,500 |
| 3 | David Bach | United States | 273,000 |
| 4 | Anatolii Zyrin | Russia | 255,000 |
| 5 | Larry Tull | United States | 208,500 |
| 6 | Ray Henson | United States | 203,000 |
| 7 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 202,500 |
| 8 | Zack Freeman | United States | 202,000 |
| 9 | Brian Rast | United States | 190,000 |
| 10 | David "Bakes" Baker | United States | 190,000 |
Those are hardly the only poker stars who will be on the Day 2 felt as Poker Hall of Famers Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel bagged middling stacks, while the always-positive Phil Hellmuth will look to spin up his stack of 9,000 into a record-extending 17th bracelet.
Defending champion Ben Diebold and runner-up Mike Gorodinsky are both in contention, while Adam Friedman, who famously won this event three consecutive years from 2018 to 2021, won't be made a four-time Dealer's Choice champion this time around as he fell on Day 1.
We may see a few more notables hop into the field as late registration remains open until the start of play on Day 2.
The plan is to play seven 90-minute levels with a 15-minute break after every level and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 14, which is expected to wrap up at approximately 7:40 p.m. Day 3's restart time has yet to be determined and will play down to a winner as it follows a similar structure to Day 2.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas and will provide updates before the next Dealer's Choice champion is crowned.