Day 1 Concludes; Tull Leads with Burr and Fricke Close Behind
Day 1 of Event #41: $1,500 Six-Handed Dealer's Choice is officially in the books! This unique event drew a total of 419 entries and by the end of the day just 95 of those players remained. By the end of the night it was Larry Tull who bagged up the largest stack in the room with 55,400.
While Tull holds the chip lead coming into Day 2, other notable players are close on his heels. Melissa Burr has had a stellar WSOP thus far, making two final tables ( an eighth place finish in Event #10: $10,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Championship and a fifth in Event #30: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low). Burr is now looking for her third deep run of the summer, bagging up a top-five stack with 47,375. Right on Burr's heels is Event 30's seventh place finisher Jimmy Fricke. Fricke will bring 46,600 with him into Day 2.
The day saw all sixteen of the possible games being spread with players complimenting the dealers and tournament staff for a well-run tournament left and right. The light-hearted environment was almost palpable in the room, as players were quite jovial with one another as they jumped from game to game. One exception, however, occurred halfway through the day. Brandon Cantu was once again the center of controversy when he engaged in a confrontation with fellow bracelet winner Jesse Martin. Cantu ultimately received a penalty that amounted to about three missed orbits. Regardless of that fact, Cantu bagged up at the end of the night and will return for Day 2 with 33,175.
Other familiar faces returning for Day 2 include Jennifer Harman (39,500), Todd Brunson (38,000), Frank Kassela (37,100), Jeff Madsen (35,550), Robert Mizrachi (34,175), Gavin Smith (25,125), Calvin Anderson (25,025), Bill Chen (24,575), Maria Ho (22,925), Andrey Zaichenko (14,450), Michael Mizrachi (13,025), John Monnette (11,425) andBrian Rast (6,775).
While each of those players bagged up and will advance onto the second day, many others were not as fortunate. Some of the players to leave the felt before the bag and tag include Mike Sexton, Steven Wolansky, Randy Ohel, Barry Greenstein, Ben Yu, Andy Frankenberger, Naoya Kihara, Mike Leah, Bryan Campanello, Tom Schneider, Scotty Nguyen, Scott Abrams, and Eli Elezra.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. local time on Friday in the Purple section of the Amazon Room. As always, PokerNews will be on hand with the latest coverage. Until tomorrow!