2016 World Champ Qui Nguyen Shines on Day 1 of the $5,000 Champions Reunion
The Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas ballrooms are surrounded by giant banners depicting the Main Event champions over 55 years of the World Series of Poker. Today, on Day 1 of the $5,000 Champions Reunion, those same players had a similar-sized target on their backs.
Anyone who knocked out a past Main Event champion earned a seat into this year’s Main Event, and 22 past champions from 1983 champ Tom McEvoy to defending champ Daniel Weinman took to the felt. McEvoy, Berry Johnston, Ryan Riess, Scott Blumstein, Espen Jorstad, Koray Aldemir, Greg Raymer, and Phil Hellmuth were among those who handed over their bounty.
It was another past champion who ended the day contending for the chip lead. Qui Nguyen, the 2016 champion, bagged up 663,000. Asher Conniff didn’t win the Main Event, but he did come close two years ago when he busted in 10th; Conniff won a massive pot with a full house against Onur Unsal on his way to finishing with 641,000.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qui Nguyen | United States | 663,000 | 83 |
| 2 | Xiaohu Liu | China | 661,000 | 83 |
| 3 | Asher Conniff | United States | 641,000 | 80 |
| 4 | Yuzu Wang | China | 574,000 | 72 |
| 5 | Yuzhou Yin | China | 567,000 | 71 |
| 6 | Chris Hunichen | United States | 567,000 | 71 |
| 7 | Aram Zobian | United States | 565,000 | 71 |
| 8 | Roman Pumpernick | Austria | 558,000 | 70 |
| 9 | Alex Keating | United States | 554,000 | 69 |
| 10 | David Coleman | United States | 534,000 | 67 |
Yuzhou Yin (567,000), Aram Zobian (565,000), and Alex Keating (554,000) are also among the top stacks. Keating made a late jump up the leaderboard when he picked up aces to bust Alex Livingston.
Dan Harrington (395,000), Jamie Gold (331,000), Greg Merson (209,000), Daniel Negreanu (168,000), and Joe McKeehen (139,000) survived the day, as did Weinman who doubled up off Merson in the last level with queens; the reigning world champion ended up with 269,000.
Johnny Chan not only was a bounty, but he collected another one when he spiked an ace to crack Chris Moneymaker's kings, getting a measure of revenge after Moneymaker eliminated him on his way to winning the title in 2003.
Among the players who didn't make it through the day were Alex Foxen, Chance Kornuth, Jeff Platt, David "ODB" Baker, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
A total of 493 players entered the first event of the 2024 WSOP. Ninety-nine return on May 29 at noon local time for Day 2. The top 74 players will finish in the money and guarantee themselves a payday of $9,141, with the eventual champion earning $408,468. There are also the Main Event bounties still to claim.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow as this star-studded field that personifies the history of the WSOP returns to play down to the money bubble and on to the final table.