Speir Emerges as Day 1 Chip Leader; Liebert, Lindgren, Hachem, & Seidel All Still Alive
The anticipation surrounding Event No. 51, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better was at an all-time high among both pros and amateurs. Today, their excitement was unleashed as Day 1 of that event drew an impressive 946 players (99 more than 2010) creating a prize pool of $1,227,100. Each and everyone of them were looking to follow in the footsteps of Steve Jelenik, who last year bested a field of 847 to win $245,871.
This year, the winner will received even more than Jelenik as $268,235 has been set aside for first place. The man best positioned to make a run at the top prize is William Speir, who appears to be the Day 1 chip leader (115,300) with 134 players remaning.
Unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as Speir. Some of the players eliminated on Day 1 included Phil Laak, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Eric Baldwin, Marcel Luske, Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer, Jonathan Duhamel, and Phil Hellmuth.
While many of poker's biggest names failed to survive, a few big names managed to sneak through to Day 2. Alexandre Gomes, Kathy Liebert, Alex Wice, Alexander Kostritsyn, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, and Joe Hachem will all return tomorrow. Joining them will be big stacks David "Doc" Sands (94,000), Fabrizio Gonzalez (90,300), Tom Chambers (82,800), and Robert Campbell (74,100).
Day 2 is set to resume tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. PST, so be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the hands, chip counts, and eliminations from the tournament floor.