Event #65 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Max) was a tremendous success here at the 2023 World Series of Poker hosted at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Without counting those that will take advantage of late registration running into Day 2, the 920 attendance from 2022 has already been blown out of the water with 1,098 entries tallied over the course of Day 1. The current prize pool stands at $5,046,200 but won’t be finalized until the first level of Day 2, and shortly after that point, full payouts will be posted.
Only 381 hopefuls remain in the field, but that number will swell some tomorrow, as registration is open until the start of Day 2.
End of Day Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuliyan Kolev | Bulgaria | 521,000 | 208 |
| 2 | Ting Yi Tsai | Taiwan | 471,500 | 189 |
| 3 | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | 422,500 | 169 |
| 4 | Matt Berkey | United States | 370,000 | 148 |
| 5 | Ren Lin | United States | 369,000 | 148 |
| 6 | Jonathan McCann | United Kingdom | 364,000 | 146 |
| 7 | Zachary Grech | United States | 360,000 | 144 |
| 8 | Pavel Spirins | Latvia | 356,500 | 143 |
| 9 | Cody Jones | United States | 325,000 | 130 |
| 10 | Carlos Chadha-Villamarin | United States | 317,000 | 127 |
Yuliyan Kolev (521,500) bagged up the biggest stack, but Ting Yi Tsai (471,500), and Ren Lin (368,000) are ahot on his heels moving on to Day 2. You may recall that Kolev captured a bracelet last summer while sporting a KFC bucket as a hat! The flamboyant Bulgarian has every chance of winning his second piece of WSOP hardware thanks to bagging up a big stack.
Li is better known for competing in high-stakes tournaments, having finished second in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller for $903,610 at the 2021 WSOP. However, "Tony" has adjusted perfectly to this lower yet still substantial buy-in, and is one to watch going forward.
Popular Italian pro Mustapha Kanit (312,500) also bagged a healthy stack, as did WSOP Thrill Team’s Vanessa Selbst (253,000), and we can’t forget to mention Steffen Sontheimer (238,500) who hasn’t played a tournament before this one in a couple years. That’s only a taste of the talent that will be returning for a chance at a gold bracelet.
The remaining players will be moving to the Horseshoe Ballroom for Day 2, and cards will be in the air at 12:00 p.m. local time on June 28. Play will restart at Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante. The plan is to play another ten levels, so keep it locked to PokerNews for all the updates from this star-studded event.