Bleznick Among Top Stacks After Day 1 of $2,500 Mixed Big Bet
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The first ten levels are in the books for Event #43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet, and when the dust settled, only 52 players bagged their advancing stacks. Less than a quarter of the 218-entry field navigated through the intense action which saw big bets being splashed right from the early moments.
Those who survived are closing on a WSOP cash, with the top 33 spots sharing a $490,500 prize pool. The champion is set to walk away with $127,808 but that won't happen until Thursday.
Jared Bleznick was among the players who thrived for virtually the whole ten-hour span today. Bleznick was seen chasing Phil Hui for the chip lead, and while Hui eventually lost about a half of his big stack, Bleznick was able to guard his pile of chips all the way through to bagging his 149,900.
It wasn't enough to claim the pole position as Jonathan Depa had an even better start to the tournament, finishing with 171,600 chips. Some other players who have already crossed the 100,000-mark include Arthur Morris (137,000) and Ryan Hughes (131,900).
The Mixed Big Bet attracted an inspiring field of players including some of the world's most popular players in Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey. Hellmuth was on a nub only a few hands before bagging, but he found two doubles to bag 17,400. While way below the average stack, Hellmuth claimed that it feels like heaps considering his struggling through the last level.
Ivey's run was short-lived as his pocket kings couldn't fade Brandon Shack-Harris' wrap in pot-limit omaha. Shack-Harris rivered a straight to catapult himself among bigger stacks in the field, knocking out the 10-time bracelet winner.
Shack-Harris reported 87,500 at the end of the day, just a little more than Chris Ferguson who had a strong finish to improve to 85,900. Shack-Harris and Ferguson both trail professional German soccer striker Max Kruse who will return to 90,900.
Play will resume on Wednesday, June 19, at 2 p.m. local time and PokerNews will be on the ground to provide live updates from the big bet action. Make sure to come back to find out which players will find their way to the final table.