Yockey Claims the Lead After Day 1; Sammartino, Elezra and Deeb Bag Big Stacks
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One of the highlights of the 2021 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has kicked off as Day 1 of Event #60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship has concluded. The pinnacle mixed game of the year attracted a field of 43 entries so far and 39 players bagged up chips.
Leading the way after six levels of 140 minutes each is Bryce Yockey, who turned his starting stack of 300,000 into 653,000. During the last edition of the Poker Players Championship in 2019, Yockey finished in 4th place and will aim to finish a few spots higher this time around. Another two players claimed more than half a million in chips including Dario Sammartino (520,500) and Chris Vitch (504,500).
Eli Elezra and Randy Ohel both bagged up healthy stacks and four repeat bracelet winners during the current festival also finished in the top 10 as well.
Top 10 Counts Day 1 Event #60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 653,000 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 520,500 |
| 3 | Chris Vitch | United States | 504,500 |
| 4 | Eli Elezra | Israel | 460,500 |
| 5 | Randy Ohel | United States | 457,000 |
| 6 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 448,500 |
| 7 | Yuval Bronshtein | Israel | 440,500 |
| 8 | Chad Campbell | United States | 439,000 |
| 9 | Brian Rast | United States | 437,000 |
| 10 | Ryan Leng | United States | 433,000 |
Shaun Deeb just claimed his fifth career bracelet in Event #53: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, jumped right into Event #57: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship to finish in 13th place before entering the mixed game contest and bagging up 448,500. Yuval Bronshtein (two WSOP bracelets), two-time PPC champion Brian Rast (five WSOP bracelets) as well as Ryan Leng (three WSOP bracelets) also increased their WSOP gold bracelet tally during the ongoing series as well and follow close behind Deeb on the leaderboard.
Only four players were eliminated during Day 1 of the pinnacle mixed game contest of the year. The 2013 Poker Players Championship winner Matthew Ashton was the first casualty of the day after he lost a big portion of his stack early on and his run ended when John Monnette made a king-high straight flush in a Seven Card Stud hand. Michael Noori followed after a clash with Chad Campbell and Jake Schwartz also lost his entire stack in a round of Pot-Limit Omaha.
Last but not least, Albert Daher's hopes of making it through to the next day vanished in the last level of the night.
The first day of this challenge of endurance and versatility started with a bang when Scott Seiver ended up all-in against Bradley Berman in the first hand of No-Limit Hold'em. No call by Berman followed and Seiver topped the leaderboard for the first half of the day thereafter. Both made it through to Day 2 with 366,000 and 49,000 in chips respectively.
Among those to make their first appearance during the 2021 WSOP were Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov, Aaron Katz and Roman Yitzhaki. All of them have, however, participated regularly in mixed game events at the WSOP throughout the years. Both Robert and Michael Mizrachi also entered the fray and the latter is chasing an unprecedented fourth title in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
Day 2 continues at 2pm local time and the late registration for the event remains open until the end of level 10 and following break on Day 2, which will be at approximately 10.20 pm local time on Monday, November 1, 2021. Some of the biggest names in the world of poker are still expected to take advantage of the extended late registration period and the PokerNews team will be on the floor from start to finish in order to provide as many key hands as possible.