2021 World Series of Poker

The latest high-stakes contest of the 2021 World Series of Poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino reeled in some of the biggest names in the world of poker for Event #29: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em. Upon completion of eight levels of 60 minutes each, the tournament attracted a field of 59 entries and 19 players bagged up chips for the night.

At least one further player has already bought in and the late registration remains open until the start of Day 2 at 2pm local time on Friday, October 15. With fewer than two dozen contenders in the mix so far, it's very likely to see several notables jump in at the last minute with a fresh stack of 60,000.

Leading the way at the end of Day 1 is China's Ye Shen with a stack of 361,400, who is closely followed by Young Ko (340,000), Chad Campbell (326,300) and Dan Shak (320,500). Other big stacks include the 2019 finalist Chance Kornuth (262,000) and freshly minted GGPoker ambassador and WSOP bracelet winner Jason Koon (235,400).

Another five WSOP champions advanced including Joao Vieira, Dan Zack, Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Negreanu, and Ben Yu.

Top 10 Counts After Day 1 in Event #29: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold'em

Among the notables to bust throughout an incredibly fast and action-paced day were Dario Sammartino, Cary Katz, Sergi Reixach, Erik Seidel, Eric Kurtzman, Peter Jetten, Giuseppe Iadisernia, GGPoker Short Deck Squad member Denys Chufarin and Jake Daniels.

Daniel Negreanu late-registered in the final level of the night and went zero for five in his first five flips, utilising the strategy to invest one stack of 20,000 at a time. The six-time WSOP bracelet winner then doubled twice during the final hands of the night to ensure a playable stack for Day 2.

During the final stages it appeared to be a close race for the overnight lead as Young Ko was pacing the pack. He was involved in some of the most memorable hands including a three-way all-in with set-over-set in which he made quads and a four-way all-in during which he scooped it all. However, he lost some chips at the very end and that propelled Ye Shen into the top spot.

Shen's biggest pot came in a double-up through Dario Sammartino when he made the nut flush against a ten-high flush, an improbable setup in Short Deck poker. He knocked out Sammartino on the first entry soon after to further rise on the leaderboard.

Chris Brewer dominated the early stages and won a large three-way all-in when he turned a flush to leave Brandon Delnano drawing dead with aces full while Gabe Patgorski had one out with trips jacks. However, the run-good stopped soon after and Brewer lost multiple showdown pots to end the day below the average.

Day 2 will recommence with a running ante of 1,200 and a button double ante of 2,400. The field size will certainly increase as the late registration remains open until the cards are in the air for level nine. On the penultimate day, the tournament is slated to play down to the final five players for the live-streamed showdown.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to provide all the action from one of the most exciting poker variants.

The final 19 players have bagged and tagged their chips for the night. All counts and a recap of today's action are to follow.

Daniel Negreanu got it in with the and needed a lot of help as Jason Koon had that crushed with . The and Negreanu flopped two pair to survive.

He then scored another double-up through Chris Brewer when made a full house on the board, Brewer's cards were already mucked.

One table over, Chad Campbell won a big pot off Dan Zack without showdown and soared past 300k in chips.

Only 19 players remain across four tables and they will be playing another four hands before redeeming their remaining add-on chips and bagging for the night.

Dustin Dirksen first lost a stack with against the of Dan Zack when the superior hand preflop prevailed on the runout.

The very next hand, Dirksen jammed with the for the final stack and he was called by Thomas Kysar. Chad Campbell went all-in over the top and Kysar folded.

Campbell turned over the and that prevailed on a board of .

Daniel Negreanu got it in from the cutoff with the and Jason Koon looked him up with the on the button. After the flop, Negreanu asked for a chop and was happy when the appeared on the turn. However, it was followed by the river and Koon made a full house.

Seth Davies then doubled through Koon with versus before Negreanu got it in against Koon once more.

Daniel Negreanu:
Jason Koon:

The board came and Koon paired up on the turn. "Okay, we are zero for five. This is stupid," Negreanu laughed while recording for his vlog. One final stack remains for the six-time WSOP bracelet winner.

Soon after his triple up, Ryan Laplante was eliminated and that brought his former table down to just three players as they waited for new contenders to arrive. Another table was also down to three as Bart Lybaert vanished, leaving Moshe Gabay, Dan Shak and Chance Kornuth in the same waiting loop.

Dario Sammartino was also eliminated very recently as he ran out of add-ons to redeem. The late night madness reduced the field down to 20 players as Daniel Negreanu jumped back into the action.