With most Americans celebrating Independence Day on July 4th, it was anticipated that Day 1B of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event would draw a smaller number of participants compared to the rest of the starting days. The final number was even smaller than expected, as just 873 players took their seats in the Amazon Room at Noon Pacific Time. The total was a substantial decline from the 1,158 players that participated on July 4th last year.
Still, several familiar faces took to the felts on Saturday. Former world champions “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Doyle Brunson, Jim Bechtel, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Moneymaker, and Greg “Fossilman” Raymer were in attendance. Others pros in the field included Mike Matusow, Barry Greenstein, Hoyt Corkins, Erik Seidel, Todd Brunson, Alexander Kravchenko, and Shaun Deeb.
Jack Ury, at 96 years of age, played in the WSOP Main Event for the third consecutive year. Ury broke his own record that he set last year as the oldest player ever to compete in a WSOP event. The Terre Haute, Indiana native provided ESPN cameras with several colorful moments throughout Day 1B and will return for Day 2 with 23,075 in chips.
Day 1B ended with 655 players who will return for Day 2A on July 7th. The combined numbers of Days 1A and 1B translate into 1,478 players for Day 2A, which means that 74% of starters survived the first day.
Some of the early exits from Day 1B included Moneymaker, Brunson, Jeremiah Smith, and David “The Dragon” Pham, who was eliminated in nasty fashion. Pham got all of his chips in pre-flop with pocket aces against another player’s A-K, but one king found the flop and another hit the turn, cracking Pham’s aces and sending him to the rail.
The chip leader from Day 1B is Brandon Demes, from Tempe, Arizona. Demes, who ended the day with 137,075 chips, cashed twice in this year’s WSOP. He took 84th in Event #36 ($2,000 No Limit Hold’em) and 21st in Event #47 ($2,500 Mixed Hold’em). Demes also has numerous major online scores, including a victory in the PokerStars Sunday $500 tournament for $91,500 in January.
Demes is currently second on the overall leaderboard, trailing only Eric Clouitier, who finished Day 1A with a stack of over 150,000. Others who finished strong on Day 1B were Andrew Gaw (126,100), Nick Maimone (122,500), Samer Rahman (122,400), and Max Casal (121,100).
Here’s a look at how several notables ended on Day 1B:
Fabrice Soulier – 97,725
Joe Sebok – 78,800
Ali Eslami – 56,425
Shaun Deeb – 55,100
Michael Demichele – 54,325
“Amarillo Slim” Preston – 48,075
Hoyt Corkins – 45,325
Mike Matusow – 37,875
Todd Brunson – 32,950
Chris Ferguson – 24,050
Barry Greenstein – 18,900
Erik Seidel – 18,550
Bill Edler – 13,800
Day 1C will get underway at Noon on Sunday. A much larger field is expected, as there are only two more chances for players to participate in the biggest poker event of the year. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continuing coverage of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
