Title Defender Shack-Harris Thrives on Day 1 of the Record-Breaking $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship
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This year's $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship saw a massive turnout of 428 players, making it the biggest edition of this tournament in history by ten runners (418 players in 2014).
The first ten levels of the tournament reduced the field to less than a half, leaving only 186 players hope to reach the $938,732 top prize, including the title defender Brandon Shack-Harris.
Shack-Harris was one of the driving forces on Day 1, building a promising 299,500 stack for the next stage. Last year, Shack-Harris ranked 36th at the end of Day 1 with 176,600 in his bag.
The reigning champion is among the tournament top ten but the pole position is in strong possession of Sorin Drajneanu, who climbed to 469,200 in the last level, leaving all of his opponents far behind.
With just over $100,000 in live tournament cashes to his name, Drajneanu certainly isn't one of the familiar faces in $10,000 Championship events. Most of his previous reported notches came in his hometown Bucharest, Romania's capital.
Drajneanu has been flying under the radar so far, leaving the spotlight to many other notable players who took to the felt. As is always the case, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship drew a star-studded line-up. Drajneanu's nearest rival looked to be Andjelko Andrejevic, who's on 369,400. Andrejevic knocked out Jason Mercier in the penultimate level of the day and managed to add a lot more chips during the remaining session.
Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Jeff Madsen was among those who thrived on Day 1, bagging 219,800. The four-time bracelet winner was sitting next to Daniel Negreanu. Madsen first dropped about a half of his stack but hit an uphill swing when he tangled in a three-way pot against Negreanu and Daniel Weinman.
Negreanu was all-in preflop with jacks and queen-ten, while Madsen ended up all-in on the flop, holding double-suited aces. Weinman had flopped a wrap and bottom pair, seeking a double knockout, but Madsen's aces remained the winning hand. Madsen busted Negreanu in addition to a full double through Weinman, catapulting his stack back over the starting line.
Other well-known players who climbed over the virtual average chip-line included Johnny Lodden (270,000), Dermot Blain (214,000), Ben Lamb (189,200), Dmitry Yurasov (182,900), Roberto Romanello (179,800), Justin Bonomo (160,500), Mike Gorodinsky (150,200) and Shaun Deeb (144,600).
They will continue maneuvering their belongings on Day 2, which kicks off Thursday at 12 p.m. in the Brasilia Room. Tune to PokerNews for the live coverage to see which of the remaining players will make a deep run at the title.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | 706 | 1 | Benjamin Pollak | France | 38,000 | 19 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 2 | Yuriy Boyko | Ireland | 109,600 | 55 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 3 | Yan Shing Tsang | China | 204,000 | 102 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 4 | Ben Hamnett | United States | 97,000 | 49 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 5 | John O'Shea | Ireland | 30,000 | 15 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 6 | Luis Velador Jr, | United States | 138,200 | 69 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 7 | Alexey Makarov | Russia | 122,200 | 61 |
| Brasilia | 706 | 8 | Scott Baumstein | United States | 37,200 | 19 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 1 | Oliver Weis | Germany | 85,800 | 43 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 2 | Tony Cousineau | United States | 90,000 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 3 | Brent Roberts | United States | 75,800 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 4 | Loren Klein | United States | 89,600 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 5 | James Egerer | United States | 144,800 | 72 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 7 | Michail Karapanos | Greece | 79,000 | 40 |
| Brasilia | 707 | 8 | Dmitry Yurasov | Russia | 182,900 | 91 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 1 | Melad Marji | United States | 90,000 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 2 | Brock Parker | United States | 119,900 | 60 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 3 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 129,200 | 65 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 4 | Daniel DiPasquale | United States | 13,900 | 7 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 5 | Rory Rees-Brennan | Ireland | 80,000 | 40 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 6 | Bogdan Capitan | Romania | 199,800 | 100 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 7 | Nghia Le | United States | 182,000 | 91 |
| Brasilia | 708 | 8 | Millard Hale | United States | 167,700 | 84 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 1 | Patrick Liang | United States | 35,200 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 2 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | United States | 85,600 | 43 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 3 | Ian O'Hara | United States | 106,400 | 53 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 4 | Jaspal Brar | Canada | 144,000 | 72 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 5 | Jefferey Foster | United States | 106,400 | 53 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 7 | Florent Aubert | France | 111,100 | 56 |
| Brasilia | 709 | 8 | Isaac Baron | United States | 114,300 | 57 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 1 | Alex Manzano | Chile | 88,100 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 2 | Eric Hicks | United States | 25,500 | 13 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 3 | Jason Beckman | United States | 21,000 | 11 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 4 | Jim McCrink | United States | 76,100 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 5 | Murat Tolek | Germany | 159,500 | 80 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 6 | Shaome Yang | United States | 119,300 | 60 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 7 | Sean Remz | United States | 96,400 | 48 |
| Brasilia | 710 | 8 | The Nguyen | United States | 117,000 | 59 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 1 | Jerome Evans | Germany | 108,400 | 54 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 2 | Paul Leckey | Ireland | 36,800 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 3 | Micah Smith | United States | 25,000 | 13 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 4 | Kurt Fruchtman | Canada | 52,700 | 26 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 5 | Justin Bonomo | United States | 160,500 | 80 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 6 | Dau Ly | United States | 58,000 | 29 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 7 | Chris Ferguson | United States | 39,400 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 711 | 8 | Alberto Fonseca | Croatia | 220,000 | 110 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 1 | Jon Hoellein | United States | 83,500 | 42 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 2 | Gionni Demers | United States | 138,600 | 69 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 3 | Leif Force | United States | 76,100 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 4 | Sorin Drajneanu | United States | 469,700 | 235 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 5 | John Monnette | United States | 128,800 | 64 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 6 | Miltiadis Kypiakides | United States | 229,000 | 115 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 7 | Eric Cloutier | Ireland | 93,000 | 47 |
| Brasilia | 712 | 8 | Ryan Lenaghan | United States | 92,300 | 46 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 1 | Jonas Entin | United States | 145,100 | 73 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 2 | Travis Pearson | United States | 118,700 | 59 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 3 | Casey Carroll | United States | 70,800 | 35 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 4 | Samay Parikh | United States | 44,100 | 22 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 5 | Aleksei Altshuller | Russia | 188,600 | 94 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 6 | Cole Jackson | United States | 61,700 | 31 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 7 | Bobby Oboodi | United States | 132,600 | 66 |
| Brasilia | 713 | 8 | Michael Mcguire | United States | 78,200 | 39 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 1 | Vivian Truglio Saliba | United States | 129,400 | 65 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 2 | Andjelko Andrejevic | United States | 369,400 | 185 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 3 | Gordon Vayo | United States | 33,000 | 17 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 4 | Anton Bertillson | Sweden | 36,600 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 5 | Dermot Blain | Ireland | 214,000 | 107 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 6 | John Crisp | United States | 77,900 | 39 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 7 | Jonathan Zarin | United States | 123,400 | 62 |
| Brasilia | 714 | 8 | Nikolai Sears | United States | 135,800 | 68 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 1 | David Paredes | United States | 85,000 | 43 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 2 | Dapreesch Scates | United States | 39,100 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 3 | Ioannis Angelou Konstas | United States | 78,100 | 39 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 4 | Arvi Vainionkulma | Finland | 320,200 | 160 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 5 | Chris Lee | United States | 138,500 | 69 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 6 | Ryan Miller | United States | 168,400 | 84 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 7 | Robert Park | United States | 189,600 | 95 |
| Brasilia | 715 | 8 | Brian Jordan | United States | 82,000 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 1 | Orlando Romero | United States | 90,300 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 2 | Ola Amundsgard | Norway | 116,900 | 58 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 3 | Andrew Liporace | United States | 93,000 | 47 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 4 | Mike Gorodinsky | United States | 150,200 | 75 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 5 | Bruce Yamron | United States | 125,300 | 63 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 6 | Timothy Batow | United States | 172,200 | 86 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 7 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 144,600 | 72 |
| Brasilia | 716 | 8 | Johnny Lodden | Norway | 270,000 | 135 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 1 | Andrew Watson | United States | 87,600 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 2 | Liam O'Donoghue | Ireland | 72,200 | 36 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 3 | Brandon Allen | United States | 92,100 | 46 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 4 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | 105,600 | 53 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 5 | Roberto Romanello | United Kingdom | 179,800 | 90 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 6 | Corey Hochman | United States | 247,500 | 124 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 7 | Junayed Khan | United States | 75,500 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 717 | 8 | DID NOT REPORT 2 | United States | 210,800 | 105 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 1 | Eddie Ochana | United States | 269,000 | 135 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 3 | Dan Shak | United States | 255,100 | 128 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 4 | Henri Koivisto | Finland | 89,900 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 5 | Andrew Brown | United States | 90,000 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 6 | Cyrus Partow | United States | 192,300 | 96 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 7 | Camilo Manrique | Canada | 71,200 | 36 |
| Brasilia | 718 | 8 | David "ODB" Baker | United States | 45,000 | 23 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 1 | Michael Krasienko | United States | 160,200 | 80 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 2 | Daniel Weinman | United States | 132,000 | 66 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 3 | John Riordan | United States | 200,600 | 100 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 4 | Alper Kostem | Turkey | 66,200 | 33 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 5 | Christopher Sensoli | United States | 142,000 | 71 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 6 | Aaron Overton | United States | 25,500 | 13 |
| Brasilia | 719 | 8 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | 301,200 | 151 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 1 | Scott Davies | Canada | 40,500 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 2 | Jack Duong | United States | 75,300 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 3 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 34,600 | 17 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 4 | Benjamin Eilers | United States | 80,800 | 40 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 5 | Michael Kamran | United States | 190,000 | 95 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 6 | Jerry Atkins | United States | 81,100 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 720 | 7 | Randel Brown | United States | 250,400 | 125 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 1 | Gavin Polone | United States | 81,200 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 2 | Jesse Yaginuma | United States | 137,100 | 69 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 3 | Patrick Mahoney | United States | 264,300 | 132 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 4 | Daniel Geeng | United States | 103,700 | 52 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 5 | Christian Harder | United States | 170,200 | 85 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 6 | John Racener | United States | 66,900 | 33 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 7 | Jianguo Ruan | Australia | 89,800 | 45 |
| Brasilia | 721 | 8 | Garrett Greer | United States | 56,600 | 28 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 1 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 95,700 | 48 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 2 | Kory Kilpatrick | United States | 137,500 | 69 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 3 | Robert Cowen | United Kingdom | 203,300 | 102 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 4 | David Len Ashby | United States | 139,800 | 70 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 5 | Jarred Graham | Germany | 109,200 | 55 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 6 | Arthur Morris | United States | 57,200 | 29 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 7 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 97,800 | 49 |
| Brasilia | 722 | 8 | Sean Kapul | United States | 38,200 | 19 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 1 | Howard Millian | United States | 157,400 | 79 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 2 | Mosley Dominique | United States | 165,000 | 83 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 3 | Kevin Eyster | United States | 114,300 | 57 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 4 | Grazvydas Kontautas | Lithuania | 56,300 | 28 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 5 | Jean Ferreira | Canada | 93,000 | 47 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 6 | Mark Scacewater | United States | 52,000 | 26 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 7 | Connor Drinan | United States | 100,400 | 50 |
| Brasilia | 723 | 8 | Ryan Yearsley | United States | 35,800 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 1 | Sajan Thomas | United States | 103,200 | 52 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 2 | Christopher Frank | Ireland | 94,300 | 47 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 3 | Sean Rafael | United States | 194,700 | 97 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 4 | Jeff Madsen | United States | 219,800 | 110 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 5 | Ryan D'Angelo | United States | 80,900 | 40 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 6 | Sebastian Bastian | Bahamas | 43,200 | 22 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 7 | Ryan Day | United States | 88,000 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 724 | 8 | Eoghan O'Dea | Ireland | 127,200 | 64 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 1 | Matt Stout | United States | 53,800 | 27 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 3 | Ben Lamb | United States | 189,200 | 95 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 4 | Mike Sexton | United States | 73,500 | 37 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 5 | Jason DeWitt | United States | 150,200 | 75 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 6 | Fredrick Andersson | Sweden | 118,000 | 59 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 7 | Scott Eskenazi | United States | 74,200 | 37 |
| Brasilia | 725 | 8 | Maxim Babko | Canada | 149,900 | 75 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 1 | Chris George | United States | 70,100 | 35 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 2 | Ben Yu | United States | 67,000 | 34 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 3 | Max Lehmanski | Germany | 27,700 | 14 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 4 | Daniel Harmetz | United States | 131,000 | 66 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 5 | Fernando Brunca | Brazil | 68,200 | 34 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 6 | Brad Ruben | United States | 95,700 | 48 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 7 | Daniel Reijmer | Netherlands | 82,600 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 726 | 8 | Scott Clements | United States | 224,200 | 112 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 1 | Usman Siddique | United Kingdom | 108,000 | 54 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 2 | Ralph Perry | United States | 82,300 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 3 | Mattias De Smidt | Ireland | 140,600 | 70 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 4 | Igor Sharaskin | Russia | 46,200 | 23 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 5 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | 49,400 | 25 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 6 | Cylus Watson | United States | 87,200 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 7 | Molichisa Ngeth | United States | 115,200 | 58 |
| Brasilia | 727 | 8 | [Removed:321] Abediarani | United States | 65,000 | 33 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 1 | Sam Trickett | United Kingdom | 106,000 | 53 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 2 | Alex Venovski | United States | 82,500 | 41 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 3 | Jonathan Abdellatif | Belgium | 22,700 | 11 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 4 | Lance Howard | United States | 50,000 | 25 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 5 | Frank Williams | United States | 102,500 | 51 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 6 | Hani Mio | United States | 193,300 | 97 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 7 | Evan Krentzman | United States | 69,400 | 35 |
| Brasilia | 728 | 8 | Robert Angotta | United States | 36,400 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 1 | Kristopgher Tong | United States | 300,800 | - |
| Brasilia | 729 | 2 | David Callaghan | Ireland | 205,000 | 103 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 3 | Zeik Tuit | Ireland | 57,400 | 29 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 4 | Quan Zhou | China | 199,800 | 100 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 5 | [Removed:4] | Germany | 40,000 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 6 | Philip Wiszowaty | United States | 39,000 | 20 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 7 | Alex Bolotin | United States | 88,900 | 44 |
| Brasilia | 729 | 8 | Alan Reyf | United States | 81,000 | 41 |