The plan for the first day of the 2017 WSOP Main Event final table was play down to 6 players, however, the eliminations took very long and tournament organizers finally called it a day at around 11:00 pm, when only 2 players had been sent packing. The two unfortunate players not to make it through the first day were Ben Lamb (9th for $1,000,000) and Jack Sinclair (8th for $1,200,000).
Things went better for Scott Blumstein (chip leader with over 97 million when the day started) who turned his already big stack into a massive 178 million stack thanks to winning the biggest pot of the day against fan favourite John Hesp, who stared the day second in chips and was the chip leader before losing the massive pot.
Hand #47: Blumstein raised from UTG to 2.2 million. Players folded around to Hesp who called from the big blind. The flop rolled out A
7
5
. Both players checked to the 10
turn. Hesp tapped the table and Blumstein bet 3 million. Hesp raised to 7 million and it didn't take long before Blumstein re-raised to 17 million. Hesp stood up from his chair and then moved all in. Blumstein instantly called.
Blumstein: A
A
Hesp: A
10
Hesp was drawing dead with his two pairs against Blumstein's three aces. A meaningless 3
completed the board and Blumstein took home the massive 156 million pot, while Hesp had lost the chip lead and was left with 22 million.
"It was nice knowing he was probably drawing dead. In poker, not very often do you get to celebrate when the chips get in the middle. It was nice playing a big pot with aces, and if I was going to play a big pot with John, it was going to be with top set," said Blumstein. "Having a big stack is obviously imperative and I'm just excited I can come back tomorrow and play my game."
The remaining 7 players will return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Friday at 5:30 p.m local time. All players are now guaranteed at least $1,425,000 each.
Chip counts:
1. Scott Blumstein (USA) 178,300,000
2. France Benjamin (France) Pollak 77,525,000
3. Bryan Piccioli (USA) 35,750,000
4. John Hesp (UK) 22,475,000
5. Dan Ott (USA) 16,350,00
6. Damian Salas (Argentina) 15,625,000
7. Antoine Saout (France) 14,550,000