Day 1 of the Event #18: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship has come to a conclusion at the 2019 World Series of Poker with Yarron Bendor leading the approximate 90 survivors into Day 2.
The second Omaha Hi-Lo event of the series saw the first Championship event of the series take center stage inside the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. A field of 173 players entered the tournament throughout the day, and that number is set to increase with registration open until the start of play on Day 2.
Even with the final number set to increase, the 173-player field is the biggest since 2014 when Brock Parker defeated a 178-player field, while the record in this variation of the Championship is 212 players back in 2010 when Sammy Farha collected the WSOP bracelet.
The Omaha Hi-Lo Championship is grouped in one of the tougher events of the series, and as a result, a plethora of tournament veterans, cash game regulars and out-of-town grinders take a seat. The likes of WSOP bracelet winners David "ODB" Baker, Gary Benson, Todd Brunson, Andrew Brown, Scott Bohlman, Steven Loube, Randy Ohel, Julien Martini, Jarred Graham, Scott Clements, Ryan Hughes, Brian Rast, Mike Gorodinsky, Steven Wolanksy, Jesse Martin, Josh Arieh, Layne Flack, and Daniel Negreanu all found themselves on the rail throughout the day.
However, the man on top is Yarron Bendor who finished the day with 375,500 in chips. Bendor finished in third-place in this event in 2017 behind Abe Mosseri and Negreanu. Although Bender was one of the chip leaders for the majority of the day, he shot past David Benyamine in the final few hands to be the only player in reaching distance of 400,000 in chips. Benyamine sits in second with 291,500, while Richard Ashby (290,500), Shaun Deeb (263,500), David "Bakes" Baker (221,000), Alex Foxen (218,000), and Tom Koral (216,500) are also among the leaders.
The first Omaha Hi-Lo event of the series concluded a few days ago with Derek McMaster collecting his first WSOP bracelet and the $228,228 first-place prize. McMaster entered today's tournament and continued his good fortune following his event in Event #4 to finish with 240,000 in chips; good for fifth place among the notable player finishers.
Also surviving into Day 2 include WSOP bracelet winners Sam Higgs, Mike Wattel, John Racener, Perry Friedman, Mike Matusow, Owais Ahmed, Nick Schulman, John Monnette, James Obst, Ben Lamb, Dan Zack, Chris Vitch, Ray Dehkharghani, Chris Ferguson, Brandon Shack-Harris, and defending champion Paul Volpe.
Day 2 begins at 2 p.m. (PDT) on Friday, June 7, with the remaining players scheduled to play seven 90-minute levels with registration remaining open until the start of play. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on the floor to provide continuous live updates of all the Event #18 action, so stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all the live coverage of this event, and the entire 2019 World Series of Poker.
flop, Obst put in his last 6,000 and Baker called.
and 
, and Obst went runner-runner to make a flush to scoop the double.
flop and he bet 1,500.
for a wheel, and Hanson mucked.
and Marsters and Hildebrand checked to Aldridge who bet 1,200. Marsters check-raised to 2,400 and Hildebrand folded.
turn.
and Marsters bet out 2,400. Aldridge announced raise, and Marsters quickly mucked his hand.
. Higgs fired out 2,400 and O'Dell and Benson called, while Kurtzman folded.
and Higgs bet again. O'Dell folded, but Benson called.
for the nut low, and Kurtzman flashed the 
for the nut flush, and flopped nut low draw.
