Kabbani Bags Massive Stack to End Day 1 of Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Championship
Day 1 of Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas attracted 4,303 entries, who created and a prize pool of $2,194,020, by the time late registration ended.
After 17 levels of play, only 543 players remained. Steven Stolzenfeld bagged the chip lead with 1,190,000 with Adel Kabbani (1,052,000) right on his heels. Others to bag big stacks were Milan Timko (916,000), John de Los Reyes (793,000), and Etay Akshuta (753,000). All of them will be battling it out for the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and $271,032 top prize.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Stolzenfeld | United States | 1,190,000 | 119 |
| 2 | Adel Kabbani | France | 1,052,000 | 105 |
| 3 | Jaime Kaplan | United States | 955,000 | 96 |
| 4 | Milan Timko | United States | 916,000 | 92 |
| 5 | Neel Joshi | India | 843,000 | 84 |
| 6 | Gokul Dharmarajan | India | 795,000 | 80 |
| 7 | John De Los Reyes | United States | 793,000 | 79 |
| 8 | Xiang Lin | United States | 783,000 | 78 |
| 9 | Matthew Villarreal | United States | 780,000 | 78 |
| 10 | Rick Whitesell | United States | 779,000 | 78 |
Kabbani had a steady rise in his stack as the day went on. At one point, before the yellow 1,000 chips were colored up, he had amassed a stack that almost appeared to be over his head. It was a sight to behold from the tables around him. He played aggressively on the bubble and earned plenty of chips as a result. The remaining players will have quite the task of trying to take chips from Kabbani on Day 2.
The bubble almost didn’t pop on Day 1. With only 25 minutes left in the last level of the night, the tournament director called hand-for-hand play, and the race was on to make it to the final 646 players that would make the money. Fortunately, the bubble burst just before the night was over, and all players secured a min-cash of $960.
Also making it through on Day 2 were multiple notable names including Matt Affleck, Martin Zamani (480,000), Aram Oganyan (382,000), Kyna England (202,000), and Kathy Leibert (308,000).
Unfortunately, not everyone was so fortunate. Among those to bust on Day 2 before the money places were Stephen Song, Andy Black, Benkamin Spragg, and 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold.
Day 2 of Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Championship kicks off at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday June 29th. The day will start on Level 18 with blinds at 5,000/10,000/10,000 and the remaining players will play another 10 levels.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor of Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Championship.