Even though Jason Koon bagged Day 1 of Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), he will not be joining the other High Rollers for Day 2. The high-stakes star had his stack pulled from the largest buy-in event of the summer after he received word that his wife was in labor with their second child just in time for Father's Day.
Koon, who bagged a stack of 1,740,000 — a little more than the starting stack of 1,500,000 — will be fully refunded for his $250,000 entry, according to WSOP officials.
"Prior to the end of registration in event 40 with more than a starting stack, entrant Jason Koon requested a void and refund so as to accompany his wife to the hospital who had gone into labor," WSOP told PokerNews. "Request was granted. Issuing a refund before the end of registration is clearly within the discretion of tournament officials and common practice at WSOP. We wish Jason Koon and all our WSOP dads a happy Father's Day."
On a board already showing 5♦6♣7♠, Johnny Chan opened the betting to 3,000, got a call from the button, and a pot-sized raise from Mike Matusow. Under the gun went all in for slightly more, Chan called and Matusow called.
Mike Matusow: 8♣8♠4♠4♥3♠
Under the Gun: A♠J♠10♥4♣2♠
Johnny Chan: A♦K♠9♥8♦2♥
The turn and river ran out K♦ and Q♣. Chan won the high with a nine-high straight and chopped the low, while Matusow's tournament came to an end.
For the first time in WSOP history, a Big O tournament was created in the form of Event #41: $1,500 Big O. Big O is a hi-lo version of Omaha played in a pot-limit format, with five hole cards instead of four.
Any turnout expectations were blown out of the water as a total of 1,458 came out to play this inaugural event, creating a prizepool of $1,946,430 and seeing a total of 219 players paid, all of whom bagged. Every player tomorrow will be guaranteed $2,407, with all eyes on the first-place prize of $315,203.
Leading the way is China’s Xu Zhu who bagged a whopping 570,000. Zhu’s first WSOP cash is shaping up to be a big one, as Zhu spent most of the day under the radar before emerging as one of the tournament’s leaders before night’s end.
One who is never too far away from split-pot Omaha variants is Ari Engel who also bagged a sizable stack of 432,000. The two-time bracelet winner holds one of his bracelets in Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better, and a Big O bracelet would be a welcome addition to his already extensive poker resume. Engel spent the day duking it out among high-level competition with players like Brandon Bergin and Dan Zack at his table, who both failed to bag.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Xu Zhu
United States
570,000
57
2
David Havlicek
United States
516,000
52
3
William Haffner
United States
510,000
51
4
Charles Coultas
United States
478,000
48
5
Owais Ahmed
United States
437,000
44
6
Ari Engel
United States
432,000
43
7
Danny Chang
United States
425,000
43
8
Ryan Hoenig
United States
419,000
42
9
Grzegorz Derkowski
Germany
411,000
41
10
Yuebin Guo
United States
409,000
41
Old School Players Turn Out For New School Games
Today was also a day for fans of old-school poker players as legends from the 2000s era of poker like Bruno Fitoussi (380,000), Robert Williamson III (212,000), Andrew Brown (166,000), Jeff Lisandro (161,000), Jon Shoreman (125,000) and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan (147,000) all found their way to a cash and a bag for the following day.
Many other notable players made it through the day, with players such as Charles Coultas (478,000), Nathan Gamble (324,000), Yuval Bronshtein (271,000), Kao “Flexx” Saechao (254,000), Shirin Oskooi (131,000), Dylan Weisman (99,000), Allen Kessler (68,000), and Ian Steinman (47,000) all still in the running to become the first ever WSOP Big O champion.
Not all were in fortune’s good graces today. Players like Craig Chait, Chino Rheem, Erik Seidel, Kate Hoang, Alex Foxen, Barny Boatman, Chip Jett, and Brandon Shack-Harris all were eliminated throughout the course of the day.
The final player eliminated was Vinnie McCambridge whose tournament life came to an end when his gutshot could not get there against the set of Zhargal Tsydypov (370,000). With his elimination, the entire field was in the money and bagged for the night.
Players will return on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Horseshoe at Level 18 with blinds at 5,000-10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. Levels will be upped to 60 minutes and a 15-minute break will occur at the conclusion of every two levels. Players will play 10 levels before finishing the day with a 60-minute dinner break occurring at the conclusion of Level 21.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all coverage of the 2023 WSOP.