Anthony Spinella Leads WSOP 2011 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Anthony Spinella, from North Carolina, is top of the pile after the opening day of the $1,500 no-limit hold’em (6-max) event on 223,000 – having started on just 4,500.

Contestants fell consistently during the day as 1,920 entrants became just 188 survivors for tonight’s play as they eye up the $544,388 top prize and bracelet. That’s already just eight away from the money, with the 180th finisher securing $2,954.

However, sixth place will guarantee $66,199, while fifth is assured of $95,333, fourth earns $141,030, third takes $214,410 and the runner-up wins $334,756.

As expected with large fields, some well known names bit the dust early, including Andy Black, Antonio Esfandiari, Tom Dwan, Galen Hall, Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Lex Veldhuis and John Racener.

However, other pros made it through to day two and these include Scotty Nguyen, Cliff Josephy, Tommy Vedes, Melanie Weisner, David Vamplew, Erica Schoenberg, Dan Fleyshman, Greg Mueller, Matt Stout and Eric Froelich.

But the bottom two will have their work cut out to stay in for more than one hand as
Geffrey Klein and Jonathon Poche hold just one chip each!

Top 10 chip leaders after day one of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (6-max) event:

1. Anthony Spinella (USA) – 223,000
2. Ryan Welch (USA) – 156,300
3. Bryan Colin (USA) – 128,100
4. Elliott Zaydman (USA) – 119,300
5. Anders Taylor (USA) – 117,000
6. Joseph Ebanks (USA) – 110,000
7. Zach Clark (USA) – 105,100
8. Amit Makhija (USA) – 103,800
9. Michael Rocco (USA) – 101,800
10. Oleksii Kovalchuk (Ukraine) – 92,100