James Chen Bags Big in Day 1 of Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed)
Day 1 of Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) at the 2024 World Series of Poker saw a tremendous turnout both in volume and quality of players here at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. There were a whopping 2,212 entries, which is an increase compared to the 2,071 of last year. This generated a prize pool of $1,946,560. At the end of 17 levels of play, only 128 hopefuls found a bag for Day 2.
James Chen (US) found himself near the top of the counts as the day came to an end, bagging an impressive 1,017,000. Chen has already won a bracelet at this year's WSOP, defeating 928 players in Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) and cashed in two other events for a total earnings of $222,221 thus far.
Grzegorz Derkowski has the largest stack of 1,177,000. He has also had a successful 2024 WSOP with two cashes, including a fourth-place finish in Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) for a total of $105,563.
Hot on Derkowski's heels is Kharlin Sued, who bagged 1,100,000. Sued has quite the resume with an incredible seven cashes thus far in the 2024 WSOP worth a combined $91,373, taking his lifetime earnings to $1,184,051.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grzegorz Derkowski | Germany | 1,177,000 | 118 |
| 2 | Kharlin Sued | United States | 1,100,000 | 110 |
| 3 | James Chen | United States | 1,017,000 | 102 |
| 4 | Michael Rocco | United States | 859,000 | 86 |
| 5 | Brian Hastings | United States | 793,000 | 79 |
| 6 | Asher Neaman | Israel | 693,000 | 69 |
| 7 | Jose Ferreira | Brazil | 668,000 | 67 |
| 8 | Vincas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | 664,000 | 66 |
| 9 | Tolga Demirel | Turkey | 655,000 | 66 |
| 10 | Steven Sarmiento | United States | 634,000 | 63 |
Action of the Day
Day 1 was action-packed, with registration and reentry available until the end of Level 9. As registration closed, only 32 percent of the field remained, with roughly 700 players of the 2,212 entries still in action.
The bust-outs continued quickly and the bubble burst before the official hand-for-hand period began. The floor had asked the dealers to stand up at the completion of their hands, but with multiple eliminations, the remaining 332 players locked up their $2,005 minimum cash.
Phil Laak had a boost in chips when he made a royal flush and managed to hang on to them as he finished the day with 243,000.
Other notables to find a bag include, Brian Hastings (793,000), David Prociak (630,000), Christopher Frank (608,000), and Shaun Deeb (445,000).
However, not all were as fortunate to advance to the second day including Mike Matusow, Adam Hendrix, Jesse Lonis, Nikita Kuznetsov, and Scott Ball.
The final 128 players have locked up a payout of $2,696, but all eyes are on the grand prize of $262,734 and the WSOP gold bracelet.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $262,734 | 8 | $29,740 | 40-47 | $6,309 |
| 2 | $175,179 | 9 | $23,009 | 48-55 | $5,305 |
| 3 | $126,853 | 10-11 | $18,007 | 56-63 | $4,516 |
| 4 | $92,850 | 12-15 | $14,257 | 64-71 | $3,894 |
| 5 | $68,702 | 16-23 | $11,421 | 72-79 | $3,400 |
| 6 | $51,396 | 24-31 | $9,259 | 80-99 | $3,008 |
| 7 | $38,877 | 32-39 | $7,597 | 100-126 | $2,696 |
| 127-128 | $2,449 |
Day 2 restarts at 1 p.m. local time on June 19 in the Bronze section at the Horseshoe Event Center, with play continuing until just five players remain.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates throughout the rest of Event #48 and the rest of the 2024 World Series of Poker.