Owen Bags Day 1 Chip Lead in Event #34: $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw
After a slow start to the day, Adam Owen blazed through the field of 285 entries to take home the Day 1 chip lead in Event #34: $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw.
The British mixed-game pro will lead the remaining field of 76 players into Monday’s Day 2 with 43 of those returning players reaching the money and earning a $2,434 guaranteed payday. They’ll all be aiming much higher though, of course, with $87,837 going to the winner, along with the WSOP gold bracelet.
Owen’s day started on the wrong foot as he dropped below 20,000 chips within the first two levels, but with plenty of time still to go, Owen steadily chipped up, then won a huge multiway pot midway through the day with number one against numbers two and three that vaulted him into the chip lead for the first time.
Owen would be challenged for the top spot by several players, including Ian Johns, who peaked at over 200,000, but fell to 140,500 by night’s end.
A few players made a late charge in the day’s final levels to also put themselves in contention entering Day 2, including Amin Ahmed (229,500), Brian Yoon (226,500), Matt Grapenthien (210,000), Daniel Anton (207,500), David Funkhouser (204,500), and Cory Zeidman (198,000).
Jon Turner and Vladimir Peck were among the chip leaders for a good part of the early stages, but by night’s end both had fallen, along with several other notables, including Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Kade, Shaun Deeb, and Chino Rheem.
The players will return to the Amazon room at 2:00 pm local time Monday and play ten one-hour levels.
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