Home / Poker News May 2012 / 2012 WSOP – Day 1 Report
2012 WSOP – Day 1 Report
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2012-05-29 12:58
The first day of the
2012 WSOP is in the books and the first event is well on its way. The $500 Casino Employees NL Holdem event was the opening event – as it has been customary lately – and it kicked off on Sunday around noon. 11 levels of play went into the first day of action, at the end of which, Chiab Saechao emerged with the chip lead, as the field had played down to the final 46.
A total of 732 players registered for the opening event, quite a bit fewer than last year. Either there are fewer casino employees around this year, or the popularity of the event is suffering. The resulting prize-pool was $329.4k big, which guaranteed the winner a haul of $70.8k. The size of the top prize is possibly dwarfed by the importance of the gold bracelet the winner will also pick up.
Due to the relatively shallow starting stacks, players began biting the dust right out of the gates and they kept at it all day long in handsome numbers. Ty Stewart, the executive director of the WSOP, also took part in the event and he managed to successfully advance. Other notables who played were Matt Savage, Karina Jett and Sean Drake. Unfortunately, none of these players survived the day 1 attrition.
Karina Jett was busted by an opponent’s pocket Qs while Matt Savage’s rollercoaster-ride of a day came to a screeching halt when an opponent’s J,5o made short work of his A,Jo for the last few of his chips.
81 players would finish in the money, so after around half the field busted out during the first 3 levels, it became obvious that the bubble would definitely burst on day 1. When it did, it was Joshua Bailey who bore the brunt of it. His 8,9o fell to an opponent’s Q,9o and the remaining survivors were all in the money.
