Fifty Players Guaranteed Cash in WSOP Event #25

Just 50 players from 366 starters made it through Day 1 of $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout event #25 of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Many top names – including Joseph Cheong, Marcel Luske, Brandon Cantu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman and Daniel Negreanu – hit the rail early on the opening day as eight levels were played out.

Several other notable pros – including online sensation Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, Maria Ho, McLean Karr, Bryan Devonshire and Barry Greenstein – stayed alive long enough to make it to a heads-up clash, only to unfortunately exit one place from the money.

Matt Matros Eyeing Up Second Bracelet of 2012

But other well-known faces did manage to survive for round two today, including New York’s Matt Matros – who picked up his third WSOP gold bracelet by taking down the $1,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event #16 for $454,835 after beating Mark Radoja heads-up – Scott Seiver, Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller, Brock Parker, Ari Engel, JJ Liu, Justin Bonomo, Mike Leah and Victor Ramdin, with all these player guaranteed at least $3,088.

However, they will all be aiming to collect the bracelet and top prize of $116,118 from the $494,100 prize pool at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, while anyone winning their table later today is assured of earning no less than $7,164 for their troubles.

Those players returning today will take their seats in the Amazon Room of the Rio at 10 five-handed tables, with each winner making the final table.