Day 1 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Atlantic City Main Event is in the books, and Aaron Overton leads the way with 130,600 chips. Biting at his heels are Daniel Buzgon (126,500) and Kevin McColgan (112,500) among others.
A total of 619 runners entered on the two flights combined, and players who have already used one bullet — or want to register for the first time — may do so during the first level of play on Sunday.
The defending champion Brian Ali was eliminated during Day 1a and didn’t enter the second flight, but fellow final tablists John Andress, Patrick Houchins, and Roland Israel will all return for Day 2. Israel finished Day 1a with over 50,000 chips, while Andress and Houchins navigated their ways through Day 1b, finishing with 61,300 and 57,000 respectively.
McColgan, who won a heads-up side event in Hammond, quietly accumulated chips during Day 1b. His table was tough, but he continued chipping up, and will start Day 2 as one of the chip leaders. Ari Engel was also continuously trending up during Day 1b. He won a large, more than 30,000-chip, pot with on a board, and finished the night with 64,200 chips.
Josh Brikis skipped the first flight of the Main Event because he was too busy fighting for a WSOPC ring in a $1,000 preliminary event. Brikis failed to capture the elusive ring, but he finished in second place, earning $24,341. He late-registered for Day 1b after grabbing a bite to eat, and ran his stack up to 35,400 chips.
Other notables who survived include Christian Harder, Joe Palma, Alemu Makonen, Kurt Jewell, Garry Gates, Jeremy Halaska, Alex Queen, Paul Volpe, Anthony Gregg, "Karate" Mike Santoro, Dwyte Pilgrim and Andy Frankenberger.
There were several notables who were unable to survive the first and/or second flight of the Main Event however, including Mike Leah, Amanda Musumeci, Chris Klodnicki, Adam Lippert, and Chris Tryba.
Here are the top ten stacks:
Aaron Overton | 130,600 |
Daniel Buzgon | 126,500 |
John Renzel | 121,000 |
Jeremy Halaska | 116,400 |
Kevin McColgan | 113,000 |
Henry Nghi Tran | 110,600 |
Joe Reddick | 108,900 |
Aolk Arora | 106,700 |
David Zeitlin | 106,600 |
Bill Phillips | 106,000 |
Play will resume at Caesars Atlantic City at 1200 EDT on Sunday (1600 GMT). Be sure to check back in for all of the action.
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