2018 WSOP Main Event: Day 1 Winners and Losers

The 2018 WSOP Main Event attracted a total of 7,874 players across its three starting days, making this year’s tournament the second biggest field ever, with just the 2006 Main Event, which drew 8,773 entrants and was won by Jamie Gold for $12 million, recording a larger turnout.

In 2012, the World Series of Poker added a Day 1C, which has since traditionally become the most popular day for entering the tournament. This year, its turnout subsequently reached a massive 4,571 runners, making it the biggest field ever recorded for the final starting flight. Combined with Day 1A (925) and Day 1B (2,378), the 7,874 players who entered this year tournament represents a 10 percent increase compared to the 7,221 competitors who took part in 2017.

“I think with the expanded coverage, the event falling earlier in the schedule, and with this being vacation time for a lot of people with it being a holiday week, I think it being a few days earlier helped bring a few more people,” commented WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel.

Prize Pool

As a result of the impressive turnout, the Main Event’s total prize pool has ballooned to $74,015,600 this year, with a whopping $8.8 million going to the eventual champion. In the meantime, 1,181 players, or around 15% of the field can look forward to receiving at least a $15,000 min-cash.

1st: $8,800,000
2nd: $5,000,000
3rd: $3,750,000
4th: $2,825,000
5th: $2,150,000
6th: $1,800,000
7th: $1,500,000
8th: $1,250,000
9th: $1,000,000

Day 1A Winners and Losers

According to initial estimates, between 3,200 and 3,500 players made it through to Day 2.

Leading the 659 hopefuls who survived Day 1A was Timothy Lau (338,700), Truyen Nguyen (324,800), and the UK’s Chris Fraser (316,100). Other notable players also booking passage through to the next phase included Gordon Vayo (87,100), Joe Hachem (84,700), Scotty Nguyen (84,400) Joe McKeehen (36,200), and Erik Seidel (72,100).

Falling at the first hurdle, however, was former WSOP champions Qui Nguyen and Jerry Yang, who were also joined on the rail by Brian Rast, Felipe Ramos, Stephen Chidwick, Chance Kornuth, and Jonathan Little.

Day 1B Winners and Losers

Day 1B’s total of 2,378 players were whittled down to 1,794 hopefuls by the end of the night. Leading the pack of survivors was France’s Smain Mamouni (311,600), followed by Samuel Bernabeu (309,500), Daniel Colpoys (246,800), and top pro Alex Foxen (242,300). Other recognizable players making the cut included Johnny Chan (151,100), Scott Davies (171,200), Michael Mizrachi (166,200), Pierre Neuville (147,500), Shaun Deeb (143,300), and Chris Ferguson (134,900).

Not so fortunate, however, was former WSOP Main Event winners Jamie Gold and Greg Raymer, as well as Noah Schwartz, Kenny Hallaert, Doug Polk, Jason Somerville, Anton Morgenstern and Brandon Wong.

Day 1C Winners and Losers

Finishing the record breaking Day 1C in pole position was French player Samuel Touil, who managed to turn his 50,000 starting stack into 352,800, followed by Pete Forsstrom (283,200), and Robert Covert (240,300). Commenting upon his experience at the Rio, Touil said:

“I think I played very well all day long. I got very lucky on a big hand when I four-bet shoved with six-eight of hearts on the button and flopped two pair for a pot of more than 145K. I also made a really big bluff at the beginning of the tournament. I just played my game today and my stack has never been at risk.”

Finishing on big stacks was Pete Forsstrom (283,200), Robert Covert (240,300), Patrik Antonius (208,700), Loni Harwood (194,200), Tyler Patterson (166,900) and Chino Rheem (149,500). Also surviving the day was Phil Ivey (92,300), Phil Hellmuth (63,700), as well as former Main Event champions Martin Jacobson (38,400), Jonathan Duhamel (17,500) and Joe Cada (16,500).

Day 1C saw a number of big name players hit the rail, though, including the likes of Vanessa Selbst, John Racener, Marcel Luske, Chris Vitch, Jonas Mackoff, and Andrew Moreno. The world’s biggest tournament winner, Daniel Negreanu, also saw his Main Event dreams come to an end after moving all-in preflop holding pocket Jacks, but ultimately losing out to his opponent’s pocket tens which then hit a set on the flop.