Foxen Among the Leaders at the End of Day 1 of Event #19: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout
Play has concluded on Day 1 of Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout at the 2024 World Series of Poker and after 18 levels of action, Joshua Wang has bagged up a tournament-leading stack of 1,086,000 and is the only player to finish the night with a seven-figure stack.
A total of 1,267 entries, which surpassed last year’s entry total of 1,139 participants, generated a prize pool worth $2,819,075. The bubble burst at 192 players in Level 18. Play stopped after the bubble burst and the curtain came down on Day 1.
In addition to Wang, bracelet winners Pei Li, Kristen Foxen, and Josh Arieh each finished with top ten chip stacks.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua Wang | United States | 1,086,000 | 109 |
| 2 | Pei Li | China | 840,000 | 84 |
| 3 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 750,000 | 75 |
| 4 | Kristen Foxen | Canada | 739,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Antonio Galiana | Spain | 721,000 | 72 |
| 6 | Josh Arieh | United States | 710,000 | 71 |
| 7 | Christian Pham | Vietnam | 705,000 | 71 |
| 8 | Andrew Dean | United States | 704,000 | 70 |
| 9 | Joshua Reichard | United States | 684,000 | 68 |
| 10 | Romain Lewis | France | 674,000 | 67 |
Foxen already has four bracelets to her name, the last coming in a $2,500 buy-in online event in 2020. Team NGNF spent $11 acquiring Foxen in the $25K Fantasy Draft and she's already repaid their faith in her with three in-the-money finishes prior to this event.
Arieh is another $25K Fantasy Draft pick, one with six bracelets adorning his wrists. Fellow Fantasy Draft selection Josh Reichard bagged up a top ten stack, while the likes of Adrian Mateos, Jeremy Ausmus, Brock Wilson, Justin Saliba, Jesse Lonis, Chad Eveslage, and ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel, among others, also progressed to Day 2.
On the flip side, the tournament saw its fair share of high-profile casualties, including Main Event champions Ryan Riess, Espen Jorstad, Joe McKeehen, Qui Nguyen, and Joe Cada along with notables Kathy Liebert, Shannon Shorr, Faraz Jaka, Martin Jacobson, and Alex Foxen.
Play is scheduled to resume at noon local time on June 13. The players are scheduled to play a total of ten hour-long levels. Blinds will resume at 5,000/10,000, with a 10,000 ante at Level 18.
The PokerNews team will be there providing all the live updates and chip counts as the field continues to get whittled down on Day 2.