Mike Wattel risked his remaining chips on the flop of in what started as a three-way pot. Wattel eventually needed to beat just one player but his trailed against .
Wattel needed either a five or running cards to scoop the pot but he had a live low draw. The and , however, didn't give him anything and Wattel left the tournament short of advancing into Day 2.
There was a substantial pot already brewing and the board read when we got to the table. Erik Seidel shoved for what looked like about 20,000 and Bryce Yockey called. Seidel had the larger of the two stacks by a very narrow margin.
Erik Seidel:
Bryce Yockey:
Seidel had draws to the nut flush, king-high straight, and second-nut low, but needed help against Yockey's two pair and nut-low draw. The on the river changed nothing and Yockey took the pot to leave the legendary eight-time bracelet winner running on fumes.
There were 6,500 chips in the pot and the flop was out when we got to the table. The big blind checked, Phil Hellmuth bet the pot from under the gun, a player in middle position called, and the big blind folded.
The turn brought the and both players checked.
The hit the river and they checked again. Hellmuth flipped over for flopped jacks up that got counterfeited by running nines, but his hand was still good enough to win the pot. His opponent mucked and Hellmuth took the chips.
We picked up the action on the river with a lot of chips already lying in front of Bryce Yockey and Stuart Rutter, who was in position. There were chunks of 2,500, then 3,200 and 8,000 apiece when they made it to the final betting round on the board.
Yockey checked to Rutter who fired 14,000 and Yockey check-raised all in for 20,000 effectively. Rutter spent a few minutes thinking until somebody at the table called a clock. Rutter was given 25 seconds and a five-second verbal countdown to make his decision.
He protested that it wasn't enough considering the high board and a weird spot. Nonetheless, he had to act within the given time and he failed to do so, so his hand was declared dead. Yockey took down the massive pot without showing anything and climbed to 158,000. He's presumably the current tournament chip leader.
When Bryce Yockey plays poker, he's sitting on a big stack. That almost became an axiom. Regardless of the buy-in and game, Yockey has been showcasing his versatility for several years and capped it off in 2017. He first made the Millionaire Maker final table and then topped it by claiming his first WSOP title in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship.
Now wearing the bracelet winner badge, Yockey returned to the game that he conquered last year in the exclusive competition. This time, he's headlining the smaller buy-in version but the Event #53: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better attracted a large field of 935 entries. While it isn't easy to take the spotlight with that many tables in operation, Yockey still found a way to get a ton of attention and eventually parked in second place on the provisional leaderboard.
Yockey had a healthy stack through all our checkpoints, but his biggest surge came in the last level of the day. He was seen in a monster pot, battling against Stuart Rutter. With nearly 15,000 already lying in front of each player, Yockey check-shoved over Rutter's 14,000-bet with a high board featuring two queens. Rutter tanked for several minutes and his hand was eventually declared dead.
Yockey had almost 160,000 at that point which would surely lock him for the lead, but he gave up some of it before bagging and finished just shy of the lead with 131,900 as Brad Albrinck reported a 137,100-chip stack. Another player who impressed on Day 1 was Dustin Pattinson with 129,100.
There was another notable contender for the overnight pole position: three-time bracelet winner Eli Elezra. His story was similar to Yockey's as Elezra lost some of his chips towards the end of the day, settling for 102,600.
Among the 191 players who advanced through to Day 2 were both Phil Hellmuth (67,400) and Daniel Negreanu (81,100). Hellmuth managed to cruise through the field even though he was a target of Rutter's constant mocking, which escalated into a one-level penalty for the Englishman.
While there are still many notable players remaining, one of them stands out in particular: defending champion Nathan Gamble arrived at 11 a.m. for the first hand of the day and finished with 42,000, just above the tournament average. If Gamble pulls off a tremendous back-to-back winning story, he'd take home $244,370.
First things first, there is a bubble to burst before any considerations of potential champions as there are two more days to spend on the trail. But the touchstone of all events looms just around the corner as 141 players will take home pieces of the $1,262,250 prize pool.
Some of those who won't pick up a payout slip include Erik Seidel, Mike Wattel, Frank Kassela, Mike Leah and Scott Bohlman as they were all eliminated during the day.
The action recommences on Wednesday, June 27 at 12 p.m. so come back to follow the PokerNews live coverage of the popular four-card split-pot game.