2017 World Series of Poker

Dario Sammartino didn't let a bit of a late entrance slow him down in Event #51: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Sammartino arrived a little more than halfway through the 10-level day, and he accumulated chips in fast and furious fashion, turning his 50,000 starting stack into 294,300 by day's end.

The young Italian has had a monstrously successful live tournament career, piling up over $6.5 million in cashes, but he has yet to capture World Series of Poker gold. He came close already this year when he finished third in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop, and he's shaping up as a strong contender here in the first running of this PLO8 event.

Current WSOP Player of the Year leader Ray Henson also put a big stack in a bag, finishing with 169,200. He's having a fantastic WSOP thus far with a trio of final table finishes, including third place in the $1,500 PLO8.

Others bagging north of 200,000 included Ryan Miller (228,700), Sean Remz (224,700), Josh Arieh (212,500), and Tommy Chen (209,200) and Joe Tehan (200,300).

Overall, 116 players of the 207 total entrants made it through. Payout information was released by the WSOP after the close of registration when Level 9 began, and the impressive turnout resulted in a first-place prize of $511,147.

Some players who are no longer in contention for that half-a-million include Brandon Shack-Harris, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Gorodinsky, Stephen Chidwick, Mike Matusow and Nathan Gamble, who won the $1,500 PLO8 event just days ago.

Those who remain will come back to 1,000/2,000 blinds on Day 2, which gets going at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Come back to PokerNews then for more coverage of this new championship event.

Davidi Kitai just got all his money in on the turn on a board of . The river was an , completing an ace-high flush draw for Gary Bolden, who had in his hand, but we didn't see his other two cards. They must have made a qualifying low better than a six, as Kitai held for aces and a six-low but got none of it.

Kate Hoang limped in early position and Josh Arieh called. Ryan Miller bet the pot and Hoang and Arieh both called.

The flop brought two queens, , and Hoang bet 15,000. Arieh was the lone caller.

The turn was the and Hoang checked. Arieh bet 50,000 and Hoang went into the tank. She took a long time and eventually the clock was requested.

Aaron Katz was anxious to get his remaining stack into the mix and double up before the final minutes of Day 1 ticked off. Hoang eventually folded once the floor person started counting down from ten.

John Monnette was trying to get Arieh to show his hand, but all Arieh would reveal was two tens, . Miller was sort of paying attention when Hoang was talking about the contents of her hand and thought she folded what would have been the nuts.

"You folded queen seven?" he asked.

The table pointed out to him that queen seven would have been the nuts. At this, Arieh joked they should play 11 levels today.

"I will play this down to a winner today," Monnette said.

The next hand, Katz got his chance to double and did so through Ryan Miller. Katz had kings with an ace and ended up scooping the pot for a double thanks to the king kicker.

"I gave him all those chips," Katz said repeatedly of Miller's remaining stack.

We came upon a large pot being pushed to Kyle Bowker on a board of . Bowker had gotten in there with but was way behind the held by Viacheslav Zhukov. According to Andrey Zaichenko, they'd gotten it all in preflop and Bowker had run his straight, doubling to 95,000.

Mike Sexton filled us in on the action leading up to Negreanu's shove on the turn. According to Sexton, it was a five-way limped pot and the flop came . It checked to Negreanu in early position and he bet. Sexton called in late position and Gary Bolden called from under the gun.

The turn was the and Bolden checked. Negreanu went all in for 11,600 and Sexton and Bolden both called. On the river, Bolden bet the pot and Sexton called for less.

Negreanu:
Sexton:
Bolden:

Sexton had the nut straight for the best high and Bolden's low was best. Negreanu was eliminated and Sexton and Bolden chopped the pot.

Calvin Anderson bet 5,000 on a flop, and an opponent in the cutoff made it 16,000. Anderson came back with 29,000, giving his opponent pause.

"Giving you a chance to hit your low draw on the turn," Anderson said.

"No, I'm way ahead," came the response. "Just deciding if I move in now or not."

Evidently, the answer was not, as he just called. Both checked the and , and Anderson mucked upon being shown for trips.

The player under the gun limped and Viacheslav Zhukov raised to 5,000 in the cutoff. Jon Turner raised the pot from the big blind and the initial limper moved all in for 30,800. Zhukov got a count and looked at both of his opponents' stacks. They were around the same amount.

Then he announced, "I'm not the favorite," and put forward a stack of pink chips to put Turner in. Turner called and was all in for 32,200 total. Zhukov had both his opponents at risk.

Zhukov:
Turner:
Under the gun player:

When they turned over their hands, tablemate Scott Bohlman said, "That's how you win the tournament," referring to Zhukov's two WSOP bracelets.

The board ran out . With no low available, Zhukov scooped the whole pot with two pair, queens and fives, eliminating Turner and the other all-in player in the process.

"That's how you win the tournament," Bohlman repeated as Zhukov stacked the chips.

All prize pool information from this event has been released by the WSOP and is available in the "Payout" tab above. The winner of the event will take home $511,147 and a gold WSOP bracelet. In total, 32 places will be paid, with a min-cash being worth $14,786.