Brad Libson On Top After Furious WSOP Event #33 Day 1

Another incredibly fast and furious opening day at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw the 2,795 starters for event #33 cut back to just 231 survivors in Las Vegas.

The $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino’s Amazon, Brasilia and Pavilion Rooms even managed to burst the money bubble as 297 places will be paid from the $2,515,500 prize pool, with Hollywood’s Danny Mizrachi collecting the minimum payout of $1,836.

About 30% of the field was gone by the end of six levels, while a total of 2,564 players had hit the rail by the time the chips were bagged up after four more levels on Day 1 as they all chase the $440,238 winner’s prize.

Leader Holds Tiny Advantage

While much will happen today, the man to catch right now is Maryland’s Brad Libson, who will start with 117,100 chips for a tiny lead of just 1,800 over second placed Joshua Price (115,300), of Kentucky.

As is usually the case with such large fields, most of the early interest is in who busts out. Early casualties who failed to cash included Leo Margets, Sorel Mizzi, Kara Scott, Chris Moorman, John Eames, one-time bracelet winner Kathy Liebert, Roberto Romanello, Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman, Jonathon Kalmar, Jeff Madsen, Joseph Cheong, Barry Greenstein, Greg Raymer and Dave ‘Doc’ Sands.

Jonathan Duhamel Cashes in 260th

Of course, other high-profile players did make the money, including Leonid Bilokur (235th for $2,012), JJ Liu (241st for $2,012), Eoghan O’Dea (247th for $2,012), Jonathan Duhamel (260th for $1,836) and George Lind III (280th for $1,836).

Other big-name pros to make it into Day 2 include Faraz Jaka (10th on 81,900), Daniel Idema (26th on 67,600), Vincent van der Fluit (33rd on 63,800), Sunny Chattha (75th on 42,000), Martins Adeniya (86th on 37,800), David Vamplew (88th on 36,700), Andy Frankenberger (94th on 35,400), Erik Seidel (118th on 30,600), Mark Radoja (129th on 28,000), Humberto Brenes (130th on 27,700) and Andrew Teng (148th on 23,300).

WSOP Event #33 Day 1 Top 10 Placings

1. Bradley Libson (USA) – 117,100

2. Joshua Price (USA) – 115,300

3. Thomas Fuller (USA) – 102,900

4. Sergey Lebedev (Russia) – 91,900

5. Steven Tripp (USA) – 89,900

6. Jordan Cristos (USA) – 89,500

7. Ren Ho Zhang (Canada) – 83,900

8. Nicholas Mitchell (USA) – 83,500

9. Justin Zaki (USA) – 83,400

10. Faraz Jaka (USA) – 81,900