The opening flights of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event are always the most exciting; everyone in the tournament room is at the beginning of what could be a life-changing journey, everyone is so hopeful. There is a buzz in the air. So let’s enjoy the first three days of this week because once the survivors from the first three flights combine into a single field, the tournament becomes much more of a grind. Day 1B is now in the books and with that comes a new overall chip leader: Hamid Feiz with 182,675 chips.
As expected, Day 1B was larger than Day 1A, as 1,716 players paid the $10,000 to participate in the WSOP Main Event. An unwelcome pattern is developing, though: each starting flight so far this year is smaller than its counterpart from last year. Day 1A in 2014 saw 771 players enter, while Day 1A in 2015 featured 741 players. Last year’s Day 1B was 2,144 players strong; Day 1B this year, as mentioned, has only 1,716 entrants.
There were 3,768 entrants on Day 1C of the 2014 WSOP, which was a record for the largest starting field in WSOP history, so if we are going to eclipse last year’s total player count, today’s Day 1C is going to have to obliterate the record. Last year’s field was 6,683, which means it will take a Day 1C of 4,226 players just to match it. That, one would think, is unlikely, but the final starting flight is always the largest, so it is certainly possible.
In the meantime, Hamid Feiz came out of Day 1B as the chip leader, both of his flight and of the tournament overall. According to his resume on TheHendonMob.com, he has less than $26,000 in lifetime live tournament earnings, so if he can stay hot, just a min-cash would be a sizeable boost to his career total. He does have two cashes in the WSOP, one coming this year in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event, in which he placed 84th for $11,456.
Day 1C got underway at the Rio in Las Vegas just about an hour ago – we will have final numbers for you tomorrow. The plan is to play through five 120-minute levels before calling it a night. With a combined two and half hours for breaks, including dinner, we’re looking at the survivors bagging and tagging their chips at around 12:30am local time.
2015 World Series of Poker Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
1. Hamid Feiz – 182,675
2. Adil Khan – 156,800
3. Srikanth Koneru – 154,725
4. Edward Grau – 148,825
5. Marko Neumann – 146,675
6. Yong Lu – 141,750
7. Alexander Wilkinson – 139,025
8. Chad Power – 135,575
9. Omri Shaked – 134,250
10. Jeffrey Tanouye – 131,075
2015 World Series of Poker Main Event – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders
1. Hamid Feiz – 182,675
2. Adil Khan – 156,800
3. Srikanth Koneru – 154,725
4. William Kakon – 152,325
5. Gjergj Sinishtaj – 149,100
6. Edward Grau – 148,825
7. Marko Neumann – 146,675
8. Alex Tran – 142,700
9. Yong Lu – 141,750
10. Tomas Altamirano – 141,700
