The rail was packed for eight 60-minute levels of the largest buy-in event of the summer as some of the world's best poker players took to the felt for Day 1 of Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker. Many fans turned up to get a glimpse of some great poker action along with their favorite players.
A total of 56 entries were recorded on the opening day and just 37 players advanced to Day 2, which will occur tomorrow inside the Horseshoe Event Center. It was a field littered with many household names and WSOP champions, but businessman Dustin Bailey stole the show, bagging up the chip lead with 4,850,000 chips. Bailey entered the field in the middle of the day and wasted no time building a noteworthy chip stack.
Bailey was seated next to the infamous Phil Ivey right from the start, and that's where he finished as well. The two players battled in multiple pots throughout the day with Bailey coming out on top. He also engaged in some pleasantries with fellow big-stack Chance Kornuth who held the chip lead for much of the day, finishing with a stack of 4,340,000. However, in the last level of the night, Bailey won a classic coin flip versus Brian Kim where he spiked a king on the river to take over the lead and never look back.
Other big stacks moving on to Day 2 include Steven Veneziano who is making his first appearance at the 2023 WSOP. Veneziano dug himself an early hole and found himself the first player at risk in the opening level. However, Veneziano managed to double up and then proceeded to knock out multiple players en route to a Day 2 stack of 4,315,000. Henrik Hecklen (4,285,000) was the only other player to bag a stack of over four million chips.
Top 10 Leaderboard After Day 1of $250,000 Super High Roller
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dustin Bailey | United States | 4,850,000 | 162 |
| 2nd | Chance Kornuth | United States | 4,340,000 | 145 |
| 3rd | Steven Veneziano | United States | 4,315,000 | 144 |
| 4th | Henrik Hecklen | Denmark | 4,285,000 | 143 |
| 5th | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 3,785,000 | 126 |
| 6th | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | 3,720,000 | 124 |
| 7th | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 3,625,000 | 121 |
| 8th | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 3,535,000 | 118 |
| 9th | James Chen | Taiwain | 3,485,000 | 116 |
| 10th | Espen Jorstad | Norway | 2,800,000 | 93 |
The action kicked off at 2 p.m. local time with just 12 players taking their seats on the opening deal of the cards. However, that number quickly grew in the opening levels and this tournament has the potential of setting another record at this buy-in level. Defending champion Alex Foxen captured the title last year after outlasting a field of 56 entries and earning over $4.5 million in the process. Foxen had a tough day at the tables today, busting out in the last few hands of the night.
He, along with many others, will have the opportunity to reenter before the start of Day 2 which begins at 1 p.m. PST. Late registration will be open for any others who wish to join with a fresh stack of 1,500,000 chips. The blinds will be resuming at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante with 60-minute levels throughout the tournament.
There were three former WSOP Main Event champions who also advanced to Day 2 including the previous two champions. Espen Jorstad (2,800,000), Koray Aldemir (3,535,000), and Phil Hellmuth (1,590,000) all survived the day, with only Jorstad having to fire a second bullet.
Other players that were forced to use their single reentry included Jonathan Jaffe, Alex Kulev, Artur Martirosian, Dan Smith, and Chris Brewer. Aleksejs Ponakovs was also forced to put forth $500,000 in buy-ins but will not be returning for Day 2 tomorrow. Others that are expected to join Foxen in the late registration line are Sean Winter, Sam Soverel, and Martin Kabrhel who just arrived in Las Vegas today.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the updates and any exciting highlights that take place throughout the day, so stay tuned to find out who will make a deep run in the largest buy-in event of the summer.