The first high roller event of the 2019 World Series of Poker gets underway today, as it's time for the special Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em.
Day 1 will serve to ease the players into the nosebleed tournament, as only eight levels of play, lasting an hour apiece, are on the schedule.
Everyone will start with 300,000 in chips and blinds of 1,000/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante. They'll bag up after 4,000/8,000/8,000. This event offers a single reentry option and will be played with an action clock to keep the pace of play rolling. Since registration remains open until well into Day 2, players may be entering this event all throughout Day 1.
While this is a special anniversary $50,000 event for the 50th running of the WSOP, thus making it a new event, it's not the first anniversary-based buy-in to be run for a gold bracelet. Back in 2009, Vitaly Lunkin topped a field of 201 to win nearly $1.9 million in the $40,000 No-Limit Hold'em 40th Anniversary Event.
With the increased buy-in and the proliferation of high roller events, it's a safe bet the $50K will be popular as well. Stick with PokerNews to find out how Day 1 goes, with the first card scheduled to come off the deck at 3 p.m. local time.
After a middle-position open to 2,500 and a call from Ali Imsirovic out of the hijack, Ryan Laplante came along from the big blind to make it three-way action to the flop.
Two checks saw Imsirovic bet 3,000 and both his opponents called to see the turn. Action checked to Imsirovic again and he bet 12,000. Laplante woke up with a check-raise to 48,000, the original raiser folded, and Imsirovic called to see the pair the board on the river.
Laplante came out with a big bet of 136,000, which left him about 80,000 back. Imsirovic responded by moving all in and Laplante hit the tank hard. He burned through all but one of his 30-second time extensions before calling off.
Imsirovic:
Laplante:
Laplante had hit runner-runner trips but was no good as Imsirovic had a full boat sixes full of fives.
"Could have lasted a little longer, " Laplante said before heading to the exit.
Ali Imsirovic and Chance Kornuth had been battling over a few hands before things ignited.
It began when Kornuth raised from middle position to 4,000 and Imsirovic three-bet him to 14,000 from the hijack. Not to be outdone, Kornuth four-bet to 38,000 and Imsirovic just called to see the flop.
Kornuth bet 25,000, Imsirovic called, and the appeared on the turn.
Kornuth jammed for his last 115,000 and Imsirovic wasted little time in making the call.
Chance Kornuth:
Ali Imsirovic:
Kornuth was looking for one of the two remaining queens left in the deck, but it wasn't in the cards as the paired the board on the river.
Ricky Guan was under the gun and checked on . David Peters was in the cutoff and bet 18,000, a little under the pot, and Guan called. On the river, Peters bet large with an overbet of 100,000. Guan quickly called, and Peters tabled for a boat.
After an open to 7,000 in middle position and a three-bet to 26,000 out of the hijack, Isaac Haxton popped in a cold four to 61,000. The three-bettor peeled and they saw an flop. Haxton moved all in for 114,000 when checked to, and his opponent quickly called.
Haxton showed and his opponent patted the table and turned over his . The turn locked it up for Haxton.
Ricky Guan raised the hijack to 7,000 and Andrew Lichtenberger called from the cutoff. Daniel Negreanu came along from the big blind and it was three-way action to the flop.
All three players checked and the appeared on the turn. Negreanu checked, Guan bet 22,000, and Lichtenberger got out of the way.
Negreanu woke up with a check-raise to 50,000 and Guan called to see the river.
Negreanu bet 65,000 and Guan burned through a time extension before just calling.
"Straight," Negreanu said before tabling the for a flopped straight. Unfortunately for him, Guan had the for a flopped two pair that turned into a runner-runner flush.
"Oh, what a flop," Negreanu said before sending over the chips.
Sergio Aido bet 90,000 into a pot of about 100,000 from the big blind on . Chance Kornuth set him in for about 85,000 more from the cutoff and Aido quickly called it off with for two pair. Kornuth had and needed help, but that's exactly what he got when the hit to counterfeit his opponent.
Andrew Robl opened to 11,000 from under the gun and Daniel Negreanu called from the big blind. On a flop of , Negreanu check-called a bet of 11,000 from Robl.
The action was the same on the turn with Robl betting 38,000 this time. The landed on the river and Negreanu checked once more. Robl tossed in a bet of 80,000 and Negreanu showed no signs of folding.
Robl knuckled the table after Negreanu called and showed . Negreanu held for top pair as the two players are headed in opposite directions.
With around 160,000 in the middle, Justin Bonomo and Alex Foxen were heads-up in a three-bet pot. The flop read and Bonomo led out for 55,000 from the big blind which Foxen called in the cutoff.
The turn brought the and both players checked to the on the river. Bonomo announced all in for 310,000 which sent Foxen into the tank. Three time banks later, Foxen made the call much to his demise. Bonomo showed for a full house while Foxen was forced to show his .
It was a relatively quick day for the 2019 World Series of Poker high rollers today in Event #5: 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Only eight one-hour levels were played on the first of four days and that's all it took for the red-hot Ali Imsirovic to build a healthy chip lead.
Imsirovic, who already finished in second place in Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Bounty, picked things up where they left off yesterday. In just the second level of the day, Imsirovic already claimed three victims, two of which were Ryan Laplante and Chance Kornuth, to accumulate a 4x starting stack of 1.2 million. At the end of the day, Imsirovic was able to amass a stack of 1,549,000 chips, good for over 150 big blinds when Day 2 resumes.
While still in the early stages of his poker career, Imsirovic is starting to make a big name for himself and will not be hiding under the radar anymore. The American resident has earned himself over $5 million in career tournament earnings, most of which have come in the past 18 months and specifically in high roller tournaments.
While Imsirovic appeared to be the star of the show once again, each table was filled with notable faces that attracted plenty of railbirds to the ropes surrounding the tables. This event is the second largest buy-in scheduled for the 2019 WSOP and with it comes the task of battling some of the greats in the game. The crowd also had their sights set on the face of poker Daniel Negreanu who also enjoyed a successful day on the felt.
Negreanu bagged up an impressive 861,000 chips in which he nabbed most of them from tablemate Andrew Robl. Negreanu picked off a bluff from Robl and then finished him off in a coin flip just before the last break of the night. Some of the other big stacks heading into Day 2 include Elio Fox (1,185,000), Ben Heath (1,180,000), Barry Hutter (1,081,000), Dmitry Yurasov (1,000,000), and Chance Kornuth (999,000) who rallied back on his second bullet.
This event allows players the option of a single re-entry but unfortunately for Alex Foxen that wasn't enough. The #1 ranked player burned through both of his bullets and has been officially eliminated from the tournament. Others like Jeremy Ausmus, Dan Shak, Andre Akkari, Laplante, and Robl will have the opportunity to re-enter on Day 2 if they choose. Late registration will remain open for another four levels and each player will be given a fresh stack of 300,000 chips.
The 52 remaining players will return at 2 p.m. PST inside the Amazon Room at the Rio Convention Center for Day 2 action. There will be 10 levels on the schedule for tomorrow with the blinds resuming at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. Each player will be given six new time extensions as there is a 30-second shot clock in play to keep the pace of play flowing.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the live updates throughout this event and more from the 2019 World Series of Poker.