Eli Elezra had been down to fewer than 50,000 chips and was seen leaving the tournament area. He had gotten his last chips in with against the of Dario Sammartino, and failed to improve.
Peter Gelencser: / /
David Benyamine: / /
Shaun Deeb: / /
David Benyamine had paired an eight on fourth and opted to check as of fifth street to then call bets by Shaun Deeb on the remaining streets. The same applied for Peter Gelencser with Benyamine and the Hungarian showing potential flush draws and broadway combos on their open boards.
Deeb tabled the for a flush to the queen and that scooped the entire pot.
Felipe Ramos was left with a short stack and ultimately got his chips in after sixth street for the rest of it when Daniel Negreanu bet. Once the cards were revealed with Negreanu showing kings up, Ramos replied "you have me crushed, I only have an open-ender".
Ramos could also hit a seven on top of his straight outs but only made inferior two pair to hit the rail.
"Not your day today, you didn't fuckin win any hand," Negreanu said emphatically while raking in the pot and enjoying a massage.
Andrew Kelsall raised and Chad Eveslage three-bet, Chris Brewer then four-bet on the button. With some 15,000 behind and in the small blind, David Prociak tanked for a short while and folded while Kelsall and Eveslage called.
Kelsall took two on the first draw while his opponents took one new card each. Kelsall checked, Eveslage bet and received two calls.
The second drawing round resulted in one new card for Kelsall while Eveslage and Brewer both patted. Kelsall checked once more, Eveslage bet and Brewer raised, which was called only by Eveslage.
Both remaining players patted on the final draw and Eveslage check-folded to a bet as he was shown the wheel.
Two hands later Prociak was in the cutoff and moved all-in for exactly 10,000 to get called by Eveslage in the big blind. Eveslage took three new cards and Prociak two, the former then patted the remaining two draws while Prociak took two cards on both occassions.
Eveslage turned over the and the sweat by Prociak instantly ended when he paired his six.
According to Michael Mizrachi, the "hand of the tournament" just played out between Jean-Robert Bellande and Matthew Gonzales.
Apparently, Bellande opened to 7,000 on the button and Gonzales moved all in for around 400,000 from the big blind. Bellande called for around half that amount.
"Did you say call?" said Gonzales in disbelief as the cards were turned over.
Jean-Robert Bellande:
Matthew Gonzales:
The board ran out with Bellande's ace playing and he doubled up.
Note: Bellande's hand was initially reported to PokerNews as being ace-five offsuit. This was incorrect and has been changed. Positions and bet sizings remain correct.
There was some drama brewing over on table 112 in the last hand before the break as players on their way out stopped to witness the all-in showdown of Ben Diebold. He had been left with fumes from previous hands and apparently had a number three draw.
According to Philip Sternheimer, Scott Bohlman discarded four cards twice and then hit a two-spotter to eliminate Diebold amid some audible gasps from all around the table.
According to our French colleagues, Julien Martini lost the chip lead in one of the last hands of the night against Luke Schwartz.
Martini raised to 7,000 and Schwartz called. Josh Arieh was in the big blind and announced pot and was all in. Martini re-potted and Schwartz also raised pot. At this point the bet was 195,000. Martini called.
The flop came . Martini announced pot and Schwartz snap-called all in.
Julien Martini:
Luke Schwartz:
The turn and river bricked with Schwartz' aces holding and Arieh also sent to the rail (hand unknown).
Trying to guess how many entries the $50,000 Poker Players Championship will get is always a lottery. But amid the whisperings of which high-stakes cash game players would join the field in pursuit of WSOP glory, talk was that the number of entries could surpass 100 for the first time since 2014.
It didn't quite get that far, with 90 entries on Day 1, but all signs point to a healthy field with late registration open for another five levels on Day 2 Monday.
All the big names you would expect to see in a tournament of this magnitude were in attendance, including eight former champions, six Poker Hall of Famers, and five WSOP Players of the Year.
After six levels on Day 1 it is Luke Schwartz (893,000) who bags the overnight chip lead after winning a last-minute hand against Julien Martini to overtake the Frenchman. Bryn Kenney, Shaun Deeb and Bryce Yockey are the only other players above 700,000.
$50,000 Poker Players Championship End of Day 1 Chip Counts
Position
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Luke Schwartz
United Kingdom
893,000
2
Bryn Kenney
United States
802,000
3
Shaun Deeb
United States
718,500
4
Bryce Yockey
United States
715,000
5
Aaron Katz
United States
695,500
6
David Benyamine
France
651,000
7
Dan Cates
United States
617,000
8
Ben Yu
United States
601,000
9
Andrew Kelsall
United States
583,000
10
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
547,000
Day 1 Recap
The action was typical for Day 1 of this prestigious tournament, with slow and deep-stacked mixed game play across all nine games in the format.
What was atypical was the arrival of defending champion Dan Cates. Why? Because he was dressed like Randy "Macho Man" Savage. And talking like him as well.
The costume didn't seem to hinder "Jungleman" as he bagged a healthy stack ahead of Day 2.
Despite the 100-minute levels, there were some casualties on Day 1. Jens Lakemeierwas the first elimination after a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha against Shaun Deeb. He was joined on the rail by Eli Elezra, Felipe Ramos, David Prociak and Ben Diebold.
Fireworks were in short supply, but several players did manage to chip up considerably from the 300,000 starting stack. Julien Martini registered midway through the day and soon made his way up the chip counts. Naoya Kihara and Bryn Kenney were equally active as they looked to add second bracelets to their collection.
The tournament continues at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 27 with six more 100-minute levels scheduled. Late registration closes prior to the start of Level 11 at approximately 10:20 p.m. Stay tuned to PokerNews for full updates from the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.