Day 1B started at 11am on July 9, Sunday with players scattered about at the Brasilia Room and Amazon Room in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Day 1B's number of players signed up are so many, specifically 2,164, that the Amazon and Brasilia's Rooms were quickly jam-packed, which called for the Miranda Room to be occupied as well. Overall, the player turnout for Day 1A and Day 1B is 2,959.
Normally, the first levels at the WSOP are quite sleepy moments, with players sitting/sipping coffee/eating breakfast as they cautiously play 300-big-blind poker. However, when a famous name suddenly goes bust with full aces, everybody's interest instantly perks up.
Vanessa Selbst was up against Noah Schwartz and Gaelle Baumann, but was defeated. Baumann said, "I felt sorry for her. It was just a sick beat. Then I was happy she wasn't around the table anymore, because she's tough. It's sick for her. After that, I had a huge stack, and then I lost half my stack again on this table, and I ended the day with 87,100.
The battle between Selbst and Baumann trended on social media, and Baumann said she received a lot of messages from back home.
Baumann may have topped the headlines, but it was Richard Dubini from Argentina who nabbed the most chips. Dubini earned the title of Day 1B chip leader with 254,500. He is second in total number of most chips, following Morten Mortensen, who was Day 1A chip leader with 276,000.
A regular in the European high-roller events, Dubini says he still prefers the Main Event the most, "This event has the best structure. So here, I love it. I ran like god, really. I think I play good. I didn't lose so many pots, so I have a good day. I don't really play a lot of big pots. Just the last one. That one was a hard call for me, but the two players were so aggressive that I have to call. I'm so happy. Really."
Some of the players who weren't so lucky this time and got busted out during the five-level day were Abe Mosseri, Ben Yu, Dan O'Brien, Justin Bonomo, and 2012 Main Event champ Greg Merson.
Around 1,700 players survived for another day.
The players who survived Day 1B will return on July 11, Tuesday at 11am, for Main Event Day 2AB. This means that returning players from Day 1A will also play on the same day, albeit Day 2A and Day 2B fields will play out separately.
Next to come for the Main Event is the last starting day, Day 1C. By tradition, it's the biggest of the starting days (with last year's Day 1C drawing 4,240 players) , but it'll be truly interesting to find out if it will beat the turnouts made on Days 1A and 1B.
TOP 10 Chip counts for Day 1B:
Richard Dubini 254,500
Lawrence Bayley 247,400
Serge Chechin 229,800
Naoya Kihara 220,700
Sergio Fernandez
Alan Schein 218,000
Brandon Meyers 216,000
Tobias Ziegler 215,300
Yisheng Cheng 214,400
Brandon Adams 203,500
Source:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?rr=5&grid=1352&tid=15673&dayof=5739
http://www.wsop.com/news/2017/Jul/9261/GAELLE-BAUMANNS-EARLY-DOUBLE-HIGHLIGHTS-DAY-1B-ACTION.html
