Sami Bechahed Among Chip Leaders as Day 1 of $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em Comes to an End
Day 1 of Event #49 $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em attracted a whopping 1,252 entries at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
A total prize pool of $3,342,840 was generated by 1,252 entrants. The remaining 187 players are officially in the money. Players have locked up $6,024, but they are hoping for more, especially the top prize of $523,195.
Action concluded in Level 17 with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and 12 minutes remaining on the clock. Sami Bechahed bagged one of the top stacks, accumulating 927,000 over the course of the day. Bechahed has earned over $1,300,000 in live tournaments, but the coveted WSOP bracelet has so far escaped him. He will look to make a deep tournament run in hopes of earning a spot at the final table.
Only Ivan Ruban (1,476,000), David Stamm (1,165,000), and John Kenner (1,089,000) finished Day 1 with more chips than Bechahed.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Ruban | Russia | 1,476,000 | 148 |
| 2 | David Stamm | United States | 1,165,000 | 117 |
| 3 | John Kenner | United States | 1,089,000 | 109 |
| 4 | Sami Bechahed | United States | 927,000 | 93 |
| 5 | Andjelko Andrejevic | United States | 856,000 | 86 |
| 6 | Marko Grujic | United States | 836,000 | 84 |
| 7 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 822,000 | 82 |
| 8 | Maximiliano Gallardo | Argentina | 671,000 | 67 |
| 9 | David Kaufmann | Germany | 664,000 | 66 |
| 10 | Erfan Geula | United States | 651,000 | 65 |
Many notables entered the field, falling short of the money including Alex Foxen, Brad Owen, Ethan Yau, Maria Konnikova, Scott Seiver and Martin Kabrhel
A handful of notables who bagged and will be coming back to Day 2 in the money include Eric Afriat (601,000), 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson (526,000), Chris Brewer (444,000), Jeremy Becker (355,000), Punnat Punsri (260,000), Renji Mao (228,000), Maxx Coleman (216,000), Joey Weissman (211,000), Stoyan Madanzhiev (193,000), and Marco Johnson (180,000).
Day 2 will kick off at 12 p.m. local time on June 20 in the Horseshoe Event Center. Ten 60-minute levels will be played with a 15-minute break every two levels. A dinner break is scheduled after Level 23 at roughly 6:30 p.m.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow for full Day 2 coverage. Stay tuned to catch all the action.