Negreanu Among Chip Leaders After Day 1 of $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
An exciting day of high-stakes Stud action has wrapped up at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas with the competition of Day 1 of Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, which drew 124 runners across eight hours of play. Leading the 57 remaining players heading into Day 2 is France's Bruno Fitoussi with a stack of 333,500 and American high-stakes pro Dan Colpoys with 285,000, while poker's biggest ambassador Daniel Negreanu isn't far behind with 264,000.
Other players who will return for Day 2 of the Stud Hi-Lo Championship include fellow Poker Hall of Famers Jen Harman and Todd Brunson and recent bracelet winners Nick Pupillo, John Monnette and Chad Eveslage, who is after his third bracelet of the summer after winning both Dealer's Choice events.
Those who weren't fortunate enough to bag include six-time bracelet winner Ted Forrest, $100,000 High Roller runner-up Cary Katz, recent three-time Poker Players Championship winner Brian Rast, and James Obst, who finished fourth in this year's PPC as part of an exciting return to poker for the tennis pro.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bruno Fitoussi | France | 355,000 | 44 |
| 2 | Maximilian Schindler | United States | 310,500 | 39 |
| 3 | Dan Colpoys | United States | 285,000 | 36 |
| 4 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 264,000 | 33 |
| 5 | Connor Drinan | United States | 246,000 | 31 |
| 6 | Ryan Miller | United States | 245,500 | 31 |
| 7 | James Cheung | United Kingdom | 237,000 | 30 |
| 8 | Eric Rodawig | United States | 230,000 | 29 |
| 9 | Scott Seiver | United States | 218,500 | 27 |
| 10 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | 216,500 | 27 |
Day 1 Action
The day started off slowly, with just a handful of tables, before more players made their way into Paris Purple. One of the early arrivals was Allen Kessler, who managed to get dealt a rolled-up hand three times but couldn't win a single one of them. Kessler was eliminated early in the day, noting that it was "the worst I've run in any event in quite some time."
Someone else who couldn't get going on Day 1 was John Hennigan, who was seated to the left of fellow Hall of Famer Negreanu before being eliminated in the first few hours of play. Meanwhile, Negreanu battled with the likes of four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen and mixed game crusher Yuval Bronshtein as he built up his stack throughout the day.
At another table, five-time bracelet winner Eli Elezra battled with Andrew Kelsall, Dzmitry Urbanovich and recent Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better runner-up Mike Matusow, whose rival from the 2005 Main Event, Shawn Sheikhan, made a short-lived appearance before busting toward the end of the day.
Across the room, Ted Forrest struggled to get above starting stack as "Crazy" Mike Thorpe dwindled down to just a few chips. The two received late-night boosts when they chopped a four-way pot that sent Australia's Gary Benson down under.
"Twelve minutes ago, I had 7,000," Thorpe bragged as he strutted around the room.
Day 2 action will pick up at 1:00 p.m. local time on Level 11 with betting limits of 4,000/8,000 and late registration open until the start of the day. The plan is to play seven 90-minute levels with a 60-minute dinner break after Level 14 around 7:30 p.m. The tournament will then play down to a winner on June 29.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow for continued coverage of Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the 2023 WSOP.