American Sam Barnhart ended Day 1 of the $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event #48 as chip leader at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
Sam Barnhart Is Big Stack After WSOP Event #48 Day 1
American Sam Barnhart ended Day 1 of the $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em event #48 as chip leader at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
Little Rock’s Barnhart holds 53,900 chips, while second placed David Forster will start Day 2 on 52,200 – just 4,400 ahead of fellow Californian Kenny Hsiung (47,800) – as all 126 survivors from an original field of 247 chase the $165,205 winner’s prize and gold bracelet at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
Day 1 saw eight levels take place, with places four to six filled by some well-known faces in Michigan’s Michael Parizon (46,800), Florida’s Chad Brown (44,100) and Micah Raskin (44,000), of New York State.
Jonathan Duhamel Makes Late Charge
French-Canadian Jonathan Duhamel – the 2010 main event winner – also survived by accumulating a lot of chips near the day’s end to bag up on 25,700 for 29th place heading into Day 2.
The 24-year-old busted fellow Canuck Tyler Bonkowski – who was the defending champion – while also winning a few pots against yet another Canadian in his Team PokerStars Pro team-mate Daniel Negreanu. However, Toronto’s Negreanu also made it through Day 1, although he will start today on just 1,200 chips in 116th place.
Maria Ho is Nicely Placed
Also still in contention for the bracelet are the likes of Todd Brunson (106th on 6,600), Shannon Shorr (102nd on 7,500), Dwyte Pilgrim (80th on 12,800), Dan Kelly (69th on 15,000), Humberto Brenes (65th on 16,100), Dutch Boyd (52nd on 18,400), Tom McCormick (41st on 22,900), Leonid Bilokur (35th on 23,600), Jeff Shulman (28th on 27,200), Justin Bonomo (24th on 28,900) Alex Dovzhenko (17th on 30,700) and Maria Ho (16th on 31,500),
However, numerous big-name pros hit the rail early, including Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton, Shawn Buchanan, Mike Sowers, Richard Brodie, Don Zewin, David Benyamine, John Racener, JC Tran, Matt Matros, Rep Porter, Ylon Schwartz, Pat Pezzin, Brock Parker, Matt Hawrilenko, Eric Froehlich and Chris Tryba.
Phil Ivey Arrives Late…Leaves Early
Meanwhile, superstar Phil Ivey did register for the tournament, despite taking part in the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship event #45. But, when he did take his seat in event #48 in level 7, he was eliminated pretty swiftly.
Today should see 10 levels played out in the Amazon Room, with the money bubble almost certain to burst when 27th place will pick up $5,799 from the $674,310 prize pool.
WSOP 2012 Event #48 Day 1 Top 10
- Sam Barnhart (USA) – 53,900
- David Forster (USA) – 52,200
- Kenny Hsiung (USA) – 47,800
- Michael Parizon (USA) – 46,800
- Chad Brown (USA) – 44,100
- Micah Raskin (USA) – 44,000
- Bruno Portaro (Australia) – 41,200
- Shawn Keller (USA) – 40,600
- Ray Henson (USA) – 39,400
- Philip Tom (USA) – 35,100