John Marino raised to 60,000 from the cutoff, then Drew O'Connell raised to 700,000 from the small blind. Marino went all in for 735,000 and his opponent made the call.
John Marino: A♣K♥
Drew O'Connell: K♠10♠
The board ran out K♦6♦Q♥J♥4♣ for Marino to scoop the pot and double up.
The action folded around to the blinds and Alex Lynskey raised it up from the small blind. Joao Simao called in the big blind and the dealer fanned the flop of K♥10♣3♠.
Lynskey continued with a bet on the flop and Simao ripped all in for around 330,000. Lynskey snapped him off and the cards were tabled.
Joao Simao: K♣7♣
Alex Lynskey: K♦10♥
Lynskey flopped two pair and had Simao nearly drawing dead. The A♠ on the turn confirmed Simao's fate and the 9♣ on the river was just a formality.
Twenty years after his defining victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event that ignited the Poker Boom, Chris Moneymaker came to Las Vegas looking to further his already cemented status as one of the most important figures in poker history.
Only 27 years old at the time, Moneymaker spun a $40 satellite victory into $2.5 million in perhaps the most memorable and consequential WSOP victory of all time. Now a household name in poker, Moneymaker has now put up a $50,000 buy-in — the biggest of his two-decade poker career — to play the prestigious WSOP Poker Players Championship for the first time at the 2023 WSOP.
PokerNews spoke with Moneymaker during Day 1 on June 18 as he battled against the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh and two-time defending champion Dan "Jungleman" Cates, all of whom were seated at the 2003 Main Event champion's table.
Stanley Lee raised it up to 65,000 on the button and Nikita Kalinin just called from the small blind. The flop came 10♠9♠6♦ and Kalinin jammed all in for 230,000. Lee looked befuddled as he thought for over a minute before finally making the call.
Nikita Kalinin: K♣9♣
Stanley Lee: Ax8x
Kalinin was out front after flopping a pair of nines and the 3♠, 10♣ runout left it that way to earn Kalinin a double-up.
Action was caught after the flop of Q♠2♠3♣, with Joao Simao having led out for 95,000 from the big blind. Ankush Mandavia called from middle position.
The turn of the 10♦ slowed down the action when both players opted to check.
With the river J♦, Simao checked to Mandavia. He jammed all in for 370,000 and was eventually called. Simao showed A♣Q♣ while Mandavia revealed K♣K♠ to scoop the pot.
There was a raise to 65,000 in early position and Pablo Melogno called from the cutoff. Boshuang Gao shipped all in for 320,000 in the big blind which got the initial raiser to fold. Melogno asked for a count and then called to put Gao at risk.
Boshuang Gao: A♣J♣
Pablo Melogno: 7♠7♣
The board ran out 9♣5♠3♦3♥J♦ and Gao spiked a jack on the river to stay alive and double up through Melogno.
Darren Rabinowitz and Jon Van Fleet got both of their short stacks in the middle preflop and it was Rabinowitz at risk for around 250,000 chips.
Darren Rabinowitz: J♥J♦
Jon Van Fleet: A♣Q♦
The flop came J♣5♦2♥ and Rabinowitz flopped a set of jacks to take a commanding lead. The 10♦ on the turn gave Van Fleet a straight draw and he hit it on the K♣ river to eliminate Rabinowitz.
Chris Moorman opened to 50,000 in the cutoff and Jareth East went into the tank from the small blind just like he's been doing for the first two hours today. The clock was called and he was given 30 seconds to act in which he finally pushed out a raise to 230,000, leaving 20,000 chips behind. Moorman shoved all in and East started to tank again. This time, he was only given 10 seconds to act before he called off his last chips.
Jareth East: K♣9♣
Chris Moorman: 4♥4♣
The board ran out 6♥6♦3♣8♣Q♥ and Moorman's pocket fours held up to eliminate East just shy of the pay jump.
"So now we can play at a normal place," one player was overheard saying.