Day 1a of Event #88: $1,500 The Closer is now on the books at the 2023 World Series of Poker. Benson Tang bagged the lead with 2,185,000 in chips. The Californian native had an incredible Day 1A, putting on a clinic.
After dinner break, Tang crossed the 1,700,000-chip mark when he made a straight against three-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Leng.
Tang has secured two WSOP cashes this summer and is looking to capture his first WSOP gold bracelet.
A total of 1,141 players entered the fray, creating a prize pool of $1,523,235. This will be added to flight 1b’s prize pool. Only 76 players remained as bags were handed out to advance to Day 2, which will be played on Sunday, July 16th at 10 a.m. local time.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benson Tang | United States | 2,185,000 | 73 |
| 2 | Alan Hamza | United States | 1,910,000 | 64 |
| 3 | Jeffrey Tanouye | United States | 1,865,000 | 62 |
| 4 | Lisa Hamilton | United States | 1,605,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Faizal Khoja | United States | 1,580,000 | 53 |
| 6 | Mohommed Khan | United States | 1,475,000 | 49 |
| 7 | Yann Perron | France | 1,445,000 | 48 |
| 8 | Renmei Liu | Canada | 1,445,000 | 48 |
| 9 | Jason Wheeler | United States | 1,360,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Michael Noori | United States | 1,355,000 | 45 |
The bubble burst shortly after the final break of the night when three players were eliminated at once during the hand-for-hand period. These three players split the minimum cash of $2,400.
An unknown player who disappeared after the dinner break was blinded down to just 5,000 and was set to be all-in the very next hand when the bubble burst, officially getting them into the money.
Several big names played in this event, one of the last of the series. However, these big names failed to make the money, including Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein,Robert Mizrachi, Lexy Gavin-Mather, and Jeremy Wien.
Many well-known players did manage to find a bag though, including Michael Noori (1,355,000), Preston McEwen (1,115,000), Chris Moorman (835,000), and Ethan Yau (565,000).
Day 1b will begin at 10 a.m. local time in Paris with 22 30-minute levels. There will be a 20-minute break after every four levels and a 75-minute dinner break after level 12. Registration will close at the end of the dinner break. As always, PokerNews will be first with all of the latest news from the World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
