Jason Wheeler Among Big Stacks After Day 1 of $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout
A total of 3,485 entrants filled the tables at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for Event #3: $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout at the 2024 World Series of Poker, with 523 participants making the money. Only 151 players remained at the end of Day 1 and advance to Day 2 on May 30.
This is a new event for WSOP 2024 and generated a sizeable prize pool of $1,463,700. At the end of play on Day 2, the eventual champion will receive the lion’s share, $175,578 and the coveted WSOP bracelet.
After 22 levels of play, Qiang Xu secured the chip lead sitting on 2,130,000, with Steven Borella following in close second with 1,835,000.
End of Day Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qiang Xu | China | 2,130,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Steven Borella | United States | 1,835,000 | 61 |
| 3 | Gregory Snyder | United States | 1,665,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Jason Wheeler | United States | 1,615,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Addam Smith | United States | 1,565,000 | 52 |
| 6 | John Hardin | United States | 1,435,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Zhiyuan Xu | China | 1,385,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Ishan Mohamed | United States | 1,350,000 | 45 |
| 9 | Charles Tonne | United States | 1,345,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Shawn Smith | United States | 1,320,000 | 44 |
Many notables entered the day trying to run up a big stack, including Joe Cada, Greg Raymer, Brad Owen, Shaun Deeb, Josh Arieh and Jeremy Ausmus but they fell short of the money.
Other headliners including Maria Ho and Justin Saliba were able to make the money but did not advance to Day 2.
Other stars still in the field fighting for a bracelet are Jason Wheeler (1,615,000), Marco Johnson (1,005,000), Dan Shak (730,000), and Daniel Negreanu (650,000).
Players will reconvene at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 30, at the Horseshoe for Day 2. The blinds will start at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned for all the excitement as the PokerNews Live Reporting team covers Day 2, along with our comprehensive summer-long coverage of the 2024 WSOP at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.