Record-Breaking Seniors Event Draws 5,919 Entrants; O'Donnell Chipleader After Day 1
Every spare table in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino was filled with poker enthusiasts as an astonishing 5,919 players aged 50 and up sat down for Event #33: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship. At the end of Day 1, 934 of them are still in contention for the gargantuan first place prize of $662,983 that awaits the winner. With 5,919 players, the previous best record of 5,389 from last year was absolutely shattered, creating a massive $5,327,100 prize pool and making the event the largest single Day 1 in WSOP history.
Chipleader after the first day is Kevin O’Donnell, bagging up a stellar 171,100 from the starting stack of 5,000. O’Donnell already has $1,849,507 in total live earnings and made his second WSOP cash.
"When I had a hand, they called, and when I didn’t have a hand, they just folded!", O'Donnell told PokerNews with a big smile on his face.
Famous names, amateurs, WSOP winners or first-timers, all different types of players joined the event to contend for the prestigious gold bracelet, including defending champion Frank Maggio, who made his way to day 2 with a stack of 29,300.
He is joined by the likes of Neil Blumenfield, amongst the biggest stacks with 134,000, followed by Dave Peterson (123,000) and Andrei Konopilko (120,000). Mitchell Garshofsky (73,300), Carol Fuchs (36,800), and Jan-Peter Jachtmann (57,200) also bagged.
5,000 players bowed out on the first day, and amongst those that remained empty-handed are 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer, as well as Gregg Markow, Victor Ramdin, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, Ivo Donev and Marcel Luske.
The bubble has not been reached yet as 888 players will receive at least $1,500 for their efforts, but all will be setting their sights on the much-coveted WSOP title that awaits the winner on Sunday, June 17. Event #32: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em will kick off on Sunday as well, with those of 60 years and up (down from 65) eligible for entry this year.
It will be a fight to reach the money when the action resumes on Saturday, June 16, for Day 2 at 11 a.m with blinds at 500/1,000 and a running ante of 100. Ten more levels will be played, with a 15-minutes break every two levels and a 60-minute dinner break after the sixth level (≈ 5:30 p.m.). A full seating for Day 2 is listed on the Day 2 page.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on site to bring you all of the live updates.