As Michael Moncek was entering the fold for the second time today, Brian Kim was putting all of his chips in the middle hoping to stay alive. After a couple of preflop raises between Kim and Dustin Bailey, all of the chips were in the middle with Kim being at risk for around 900,000.
Brian Kim: Q♣Q♦
Dustin Bailey: A♥K♠
It was a classic coin flip and the jack-high board was looking clean for Kim up until the river. The dealer burned and turned the K♥ on the river and Bailey spiked a pair of kings to send Kim to the rail in the last level of the night.
Jake Schindler raised to 50,000 from early position and was three-bet by Danny Tang to 150,000 from middle position. Schindler made the call and the two players saw a flop of 2♦9♦2♥.
Schindler would commit his remaining 250,000 chips in the form of a check-raise versus the 80,000 chip flop bet from Tang, Tang called right away.
Jake Schindler: K♣9♣
Danny Tang: 10♦10♥
Schindler flopped top pair, but would still be behind the pocket tens of Tang. The turn Q♣ and the river 10♠ would leave Schindler in second place and out of the tournament.
Isaac Haxton opened to 55,000 in early position and Kristen Foxen three-bet to 175,000 on the button. Haxton just called and the flop of 7♦6♠3♠ hit the felt. Haxton checked to Foxen who threw in a bet of 105,000. Haxton check-raised to 260,000 and Foxen called.
The turn was the 2♣ and Haxton fired out another bet of 300,000. Foxen still called and the 2♥ paired the board on the river. Haxton slid out a bet of 345,000 on the river, leaving just 15,000 behind. Foxen used one of her time banks before making the call. Haxton turned over A♥A♦ for the best two pair and Foxen mucked.
Alex Foxen raised to 50,000 from middle position and was three-bet by Artur Martirosian in late position. Foxen would commit his remaining chips in the form of an all-in and Martirosian called.
Alex Foxen: 7♥7♣
Artur Martirosian: 8♦8♣
The final board ran out 4♠6♦4♦10♣10♦, failing to improve Foxen's pair and sending him to the rail.
The rail was packed for eight 60-minute levels of the largest buy-in event of the summer as some of the world's best poker players took to the felt for Day 1 of Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker. Many fans turned up to get a glimpse of some great poker action along with their favorite players.
A total of 56 entries were recorded on the opening day and just 37 players advanced to Day 2, which will occur tomorrow inside the Horseshoe Event Center. It was a field littered with many household names and WSOP champions, but businessman Dustin Bailey stole the show, bagging up the chip lead with 4,850,000 chips. Bailey entered the field in the middle of the day and wasted no time building a noteworthy chip stack.
Bailey was seated next to the infamous Phil Ivey right from the start, and that's where he finished as well. The two players battled in multiple pots throughout the day with Bailey coming out on top. He also engaged in some pleasantries with fellow big-stack Chance Kornuth who held the chip lead for much of the day, finishing with a stack of 4,340,000. However, in the last level of the night, Bailey won a classic coin flip versus Brian Kim where he spiked a king on the river to take over the lead and never look back.
Other big stacks moving on to Day 2 include Steven Veneziano who is making his first appearance at the 2023 WSOP. Veneziano dug himself an early hole and found himself the first player at risk in the opening level. However, Veneziano managed to double up and then proceeded to knock out multiple players en route to a Day 2 stack of 4,315,000. Henrik Hecklen (4,285,000) was the only other player to bag a stack of over four million chips.
Top 10 Leaderboard After Day 1of $250,000 Super High Roller
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1st
Dustin Bailey
United States
4,850,000
162
2nd
Chance Kornuth
United States
4,340,000
145
3rd
Steven Veneziano
United States
4,315,000
144
4th
Henrik Hecklen
Denmark
4,285,000
143
5th
Artur Martirosian
Russia
3,785,000
126
6th
Ben Heath
United Kingdom
3,720,000
124
7th
Alex Kulev
Bulgaria
3,625,000
121
8th
Koray Aldemir
Germany
3,535,000
118
9th
James Chen
Taiwain
3,485,000
116
10th
Espen Jorstad
Norway
2,800,000
93
The action kicked off at 2 p.m. local time with just 12 players taking their seats on the opening deal of the cards. However, that number quickly grew in the opening levels and this tournament has the potential of setting another record at this buy-in level. Defending champion Alex Foxen captured the title last year after outlasting a field of 56 entries and earning over $4.5 million in the process. Foxen had a tough day at the tables today, busting out in the last few hands of the night.
Alex Foxen
He, along with many others, will have the opportunity to reenter before the start of Day 2 which begins at 1 p.m. PST. Late registration will be open for any others who wish to join with a fresh stack of 1,500,000 chips. The blinds will be resuming at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante with 60-minute levels throughout the tournament.
There were three former WSOP Main Event champions who also advanced to Day 2 including the previous two champions. Espen Jorstad (2,800,000), Koray Aldemir (3,535,000), and Phil Hellmuth (1,590,000) all survived the day, with only Jorstad having to fire a second bullet.
Other players that were forced to use their single reentry included Jonathan Jaffe, Alex Kulev, Artur Martirosian, Dan Smith, and Chris Brewer. Aleksejs Ponakovs was also forced to put forth $500,000 in buy-ins but will not be returning for Day 2 tomorrow. Others that are expected to join Foxen in the late registration line are Sean Winter, Sam Soverel, and Martin Kabrhel who just arrived in Las Vegas today.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the updates and any exciting highlights that take place throughout the day, so stay tuned to find out who will make a deep run in the largest buy-in event of the summer.