It is Christmas, New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July (which now falls during the event) all rolled into one. For the denizens of the world of poker, there’s almost nothing better than the start of the World Series of Poker. The 2019 version, the 50th anniversary of the event, is now underway with its traditional Casino Employees Event and a second, turbo event which has reached its final table chock full of top pros.
Event #1 – $500 Casino Employees Event
The traditional “thank you” to those who work casinos in the gaming world, the Casino Employees Event is the least that can be done for those people whose next seven weeks will be a blur of activity. The casino workers, assorted media personnel, and some pros showed up to take on the challenge of walking away with a WSOP bracelet. By the end of the day, 686 players (up from 2018’s 566 players) had plunked down their $500 and only those who would earn a cash – 103 players – were left.
Those that might be recognizable to the poker community who didn’t make it through the Day 1 carnage included a former champion of the event, Chad Holloway; the director of social media for the WSOP Kevin ‘Kevmath’ Mathers; and WSOP bracelet holders Dutch Boyd and Jonathan Aguiar. Although these players won’t be around on Thursday to help divvy up the $298.410 prize pool (min cash is $727), these will be the players who will be in line for a good chunk of it should they maintain their positions:
1. Cosmo Andolore, 650,000
2. Christopher Bowen, 633,000
3. Miguel Cardenas, 512,000
4. Stephanie Otteson, 479,000
5. Brad Helm, 465,000
6. Jon Friedberg, 360,000
7. Austin Roberts, 342,000
8. Bryan Wienhoff, 311,000
9. T. J. Timmons, 309,000
10. Jesse Kertland, 265,000
(unofficial statistics from WSOP.com)
The players will reconvene at high noon on Thursday, with the goal to play down to the final six players at the final table. The champion will walk off with a shiny new WSOP bracelet and a $62,345 payday.
Event #2 – $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty
True to its word, the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty was rapid in its pace on Wednesday. Starting with 60K in chips and earning a $3000 bounty for every knockout, the players were faced with 20-minute levels through the day. It didn’t seem to thwart the start studded field, however, as the final six feature the final World Poker Tour World Champion and a pro who sold out of packages he offered to back him in mere minutes.
Of the 204 players who came to the felt Wednesday (down from 2018’s 243), it was Asher Conniff who had the best day. The 2015 WPT World Champion (the last time the tournament was played – the next year the WPT Tournament of Champions was put in place of the WPT World Championship) was at or near the top of the leaderboard through much of the day, ending the day with a nice stack of 4.215 million chips. His closest competitor is three-time WSOP bracelet winner Loren Klein, who will hold 3.13 million chips when they come back on Thursday.
Even though these two strong players are on top of the standings, most eyes at this WSOP final table will be focused on Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu, who offered three different packages for his 2019 WSOP efforts and sold them out (in fact, oversold) within minutes, battled through the difficult field and will start the day on Thursday in fourth place with 1.015 million chips. Tossing in some of the “other” competition on the felt for Event #2 and it will be one that streamers will want to see on CBS All Access and PokerGO when it is shown this afternoon beginning at 4PM (Eastern Time).
1. Asher Conniff, 4.215 million
2. Loren Klein, 3.13 million
3. Ali Imsirovic, 2.18 million
4. Daniel Negreanu, 1.015 million
5. Ping Liu, 990,000
6. Brian Green, 720,000
7. Martijn Gerrits, $38,823*
8. Zachary Clark, $29,650*
9. Cary Katz, $23,224*
(* – eliminated on Wednesday evening, part of official final table)
The remaining men will fight it out for the first “open” WSOP bracelet of the 2019 schedule and the $345,669, which will be awarded this evening.