Brian Hastings Bags Chip Lead After Day 1 of Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
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Day 1 has drawn to a close after 10 levels in Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. By the time the clock struck 2 a.m. local time, a total of 194 entries were recorded with only 101 of them returning for Day 2.
Brian Hastings finished the day with the largest stack of 447,000 chips as he looks to grab hold of his fifth World Series of Poker gold bracelet. Hastings entered the field halfway through the day but wasted little time in building a stack. Once he did so, he found himself involved in a massive three-way pot where he rivered the nut-high hand along with the nut-low hand. A pot-sized river bet got paid off by Yueqi Zhu who once held the early lead and Hastings vaulted to the top of the leaderboard.
Hastings' previous WSOP wins came in 2012, two of them in 2015, and 2018 but he has yet to claim a victory in the game of Omaha. Hastings came so close in this very same event the last time it was held in 2019, finishing second to Nick Schulman. This all-around poker pro has accumulated nearly $4 million in career live tournament earnings and will be hoping to build on that number by the end of the week.
Event #66 Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | Country | CHIP COUNT | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Hastings | United States | 447,000 | 179 |
| 2 | Tommy Chen | United States | 377,500 | 151 |
| 3 | Chip Jett | United States | 308,500 | 123 |
| 4 | Nick Schulman | United States | 295,000 | 118 |
| 5 | Matt Livingston | United States | 289,000 | 116 |
| 6 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | 282,500 | 113 |
| 7 | Ward Crane | United States | 240,000 | 96 |
| 8 | Esther Taylor-Brady | United States | 240,000 | 96 |
| 9 | Ari Engel | United States | 224,000 | 90 |
Some other big stacks moving on to Day 2 include Tommy Chen (377,500), PLO specialist Esther Taylor (240,0000), Chip Jett (308,500), and Felipe Ramos (282,500). This championship field attracted many big names and bracelet winners including the defending champion Schulman. It wasn't a profitable day for Schulman who only managed to put 29,500 chips in his bag but he will be returning tomorrow.
It wasn't meant to be for everyone as nearly half the field was sent to the rial on the opening day. It was a short-lived time on the felt for the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, David Williams, and Dario Sammartino who will not be returning for Day 2.
Late registration for this event will remain open until the start of play on Day 2 with each new entry getting a starting stack of 60,000 chips. The action will resume at 2 p.m. local time with the blinds on level 11 at 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. Another 10 levels will be on the schedule for tomorrow with a winner being crowned on Day 4.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the updates throughout the tournament so keep it locked here.