2017 WSOP Main Event: Day 1a/b Winners And Losers

The 2017 WSOP Main Event got underway on Saturday, with 795 players entering the competition, making it one of the largest turnouts since 2013. Amongst the field were are number of past Main Event winners, including last year’s champion Qui Nguyen, who finished the day on a healthy 96,700 chip stack, and the 2014 champion Martin Jacobson who saw his 50,000 stack reduced to just 36,800 by the end of play. Not so lucky the 2007 Main Event winner Jerry Yang, though, who saw his hopes dashed holding A-Q versus his two opponents’ pocket jacks and nines.
Other notable players following Yang out the door included Matt Savage, Blake Bohn, Sorel Mizzi, Dan Shak, and Anthony Spinella. Meanwhile, the UK’s Sam Grafton (231,600) and Denmark’s Morten Mortensen (276,000) finished Day 1a in second and first places respectively, with both players talking about having had “a dream day” in which luck seemed to be with them. As Morten Mortensenlater commented:
“I was fortunate enough to be dealt a lot of playable hands and I was able to win most of them. Other than the last hand of the night, most of the pots I played weren’t very big.”
On Sunday, Day 1b subsequently saw a further 2,164 players show up to the Rio’s Amazon and Brasilia Rooms, bringing the two-day tally to 2,959. FInishing Day 1b as the chip leaders were Argentina’s Richard Dubini (245,500) and the UK’s Lawrence Bayley (247,400), with Brandon Adams (203,500) also making it into a top 10 placed spot.
On the flip side, a number of pros fell at the first hurdle, including 2012 Main Event champion Greg Merson, Justin Bonomo, Abe Mosseri, Dan O’Brien, Ben Yu, and Jesse Sylvia.
Finally, Day 1c, the last starting day of the WSOP Main Event, gets underway later today, and it will need to draw over 3,778 competitors if it is to surpass last year’s overall total of 6,737 players. Survivors from all three starting days will subsequently go through to separate fields on Day 2a and 2b.