Suk Bang Bagged Massive Chip Lead in Event #21: $1,000 PLO
Day 1 of Event #21: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed at the 2023 World Series of Poker saw a tremendous turnout both in volume and quality of players. There were a whopping 2,017 entries, which is quite the increase compared to the 1,891 that last year saw. This generated a prize pool of $1,795,130. The buzz was palpable here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. At the end of the day, only 117 hopefuls remained after 17 levels of play.
Suk Bang spent the day cruising up the chip counts. For the final five hours of play, he not only held on to but he added to the chip lead. Bang first eclipsed half a million in chips with a big raise on the river and when the dust settled on Day 1, he was one of only two players with over a million in chips. There is a large gap between them as Bang's stack contains 445,000 more chips than Ido Aboudi in second place.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suk Bang | United States | 1,465,000 | 147 |
| 2 | Ido Aboudi | Israel | 1,020,000 | 102 |
| 3 | Jorge Hou | Panama | 913,000 | 91 |
| 4 | Mike Dentale | United States | 760,000 | 76 |
| 5 | Nicolas Gola | United States | 740,000 | 74 |
| 6 | Amnon Filippi | United States | 735,000 | 74 |
| 7 | Mike Gorodinsky | United States | 734,000 | 73 |
| 8 | Eric Fields | United States | 730,000 | 73 |
| 9 | Thomas Taylor | Canada | 725,000 | 73 |
| 10 | Matthew Hamilton | United States | 635,000 | 64 |
The only other player pushing the boundary of a million was Panama’s Jorge Hou. This is quite the disparity from last year, where there were four contenders progressing into Day 2 with over a million in chips.
WSOP bracelet winners Amnon Filippi (735,000) and Mike Gorodinsky (734,000) finished Day 1 in the top ten, but their stacks are around half the size of Bang.
There were plenty of big names that made Day 2, including Lawrence Brandt (538,000), Max Pescatori (508,000), Dylan Weisman (456,000), Fernando "Jnandez" Habegger (316,000), Daniel Negreanu (289,000), Josh Arieh (210,000), and a plethora of other bracelet winners and household names.
One big name that made it into the money but left poker fans wanting more was the legendary Johnny Chan. He, unfortunately, did not make it through to Day 2.
Everyone heading into Day 2 at 12:00 p.m. on June 9 is guaranteed $2,463, but all eyes will be on the top prize of $267,991 as players battle it out for the gold bracelet. Play resumes on Level 18, meaning blinds are 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates from this event from the "shuffle up and deal" until a winner is crowed.