A player in early position moved all-in for 185,000 and was called by a player in middle position.
Action then folded around to Anton Bojaj in the big blind and he moved all-in over the top of the player in middle position, prompting that player to fold.
Early Position Player: 3♥3♣
Anton Bojaj: A♥Q♥
Bojaj was launched into the lead on the A♦10♣K♣ flop and would stay there on the 2♠2♦ runout, sending his opponent to the payout desk.
Action was joined preflop after all of the money had made its way in. Raymond Fung, the shortest stack, was all in from the hijack. Daniel Bolgrin was also all in for more from middle position. Danny Chen, the big blind, had both of his opponents covered.
Raymond Fung: A♠A♥
Daniel Bolgrin: K♠K♣
Danny Chen: Q♠Q♣
Fung got his money in with the best hand, but his happiness quickly turned to dread as the flop came 2♥K♥J♦, giving Bolgrin a set. The 8♥ turn gave Fung the chance at the nut flush, but the harmless 8♠ hit the river. Fung was eliminated, and Chen was left with a single 5,000-denomination chip as Bolgrin tripled up to place himself among the biggest stacks of the tournament.
"I would have had quad eights," said another player at the table who claimed to have folded pocket eights,
On his way to the payout window, Fung caught up with PokerNews to discuss the hand. According to Fung, Bolgrin was down to around 200,000 just a few hands prior before doubling up with A♥X♥ versus Fung's jacks by rivering a flush.
A player in early position moved all-in and Bryce Hutchings called from middle position.
Early Position Player: A♠9♣
Bryce Hutchings: A♣J♦
The dealer rolled out a flop of 8♥Q♥10♥, leaving each player blocking each other's straight draw and eliminating nines as an out for the player in early position.
The 6♥ turn and 10♦ river sealed it for Hutchings and sent his opponent to the payout desk.
After 11 hours of play, Event #77: $777 Lucky 7’S No-Limit Hold’em at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw WSOP ring winner Chase Blanton (2,265,000) end the night with the chip lead. The eighth year of this unique event saw plenty of action and swings throughout the opening day.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Thomas Blanton
United States
2,265,000
57
2
Did Not Report
2,200,000
55
3
Daniel Bolgrin
United States
1,975,000
49
4
Clifford Huang
United States
1,910,000
48
5
Yi-Cheng Yeh
United States
1,885,000
47
6
Ian Burr
United States
1,810,000
45
7
Brandon Noe
United States
1,760,000
44
8
Nicolas Sena-Hopkins
United States
1,715,000
43
9
Curtis Connors
United States
1,585,000
40
10
Lin Hua Wei
United States
1,575,000
39
Blanton leads 64 survivors back into play on Monday, July 10th, at 10 a.m. local time with many notable names close behind him in the chip counts, including 2007 Main Event winner, Jerry Yang (1,350,000), as well as bracelet winner Peter Thai (1,040,000) and Taiwanese Pro Lin Hua Wei (1,575,000).
Third in chips is Daniel Bolgrin (1,975,000), who was the beneficiary of a massive cooler late in the day, in fourth is Clifford Huang (1,910,000).
Another familiar name in the counts at the end of Day 1a is Jon Turner. Turner bagged 740,000 for Day 2 looking for his first bracelet. The American pro has over 100 cashes at the World Series of Poker and 14 final tables but he never made it to the heads-up phase of a WSOP tournament before.
Notable bracelet winners in need of spinning it up are Kevin Song (540,000), bracelet winner, Max Steinberg (390,000), and Christian Pham (356,000)
The 1,470 entries created a Day 1a prize pool of $1,005,128, with 221 players taking home at least $1,246.
Players will have another chance at qualifying for Day 2 in this unlimited re-entry tournament on Saturday, July 8th at 10 a.m. local time.
As always, keep it right here for continued live coverage of this championship event from PokerNews.