With most of America’s eyes glued to the news channel of their choice last night, it seems that many players opted to stay home and see just who would be running this country for the next four years. Only 162 players made the trip to Foxwoods in Connecticut for Day 1A of the World Poker Finals, despite last year’s large turnout of 575. Even though a larger field is expected for Day 1B, the tournament will need just short of a miracle to meet that number.
The players began with 30,000 stacks and 90-minute levels. With only five levels scheduled for each of the starting days, the action began early as the players toyed with 300 big blinds.
Jason Potter wasted no time chipping up at an unusually tough table. Jason Young, David Peters, Steven Jacobs, Jonathan Little and later Boris Kravetz all spent some time sharing the felt, but it was Potter who was unstoppable. After doubling up on an earlier hand, Potter got involved with Jacobs for the classic set over set situation. Jacobs was unable to hit his one-outer and Potter moved up to 150,000 in chips. Later in the day, Potter scored again on a minor suckout when his A-J outflopped Peters and his pocket queens. Potter ended the day as the chip leader, stacked with 183,825.
Despite sitting to Potter’s immediate right, Little also had a solid day after being gifted nearly 30,000 in chips from one of the rank amateurs at his table. Little made the call with his paired ace only to see his opponent turn over ace rag. The board didn’t let him catch up and Little crossed the six-figure mark for the first time. He finished the day with 131,400.
Some notables to bust during the day included Kathy Liebert, Thayer Rasmussen, Shaun Deeb, T.J. Cloutier, Noah Schwartz, Scott Seiver and defending champion Michael Vela.
The remaining 99 players will return on Friday and combine with the survivors from the Day 1B field. Card Player will continue to bring you coverage of this event in its entirety so be sure to check back at 12:00 EST Thursday afternoon for Day 1B action.
Here are the top ten chip leaders:
- Jason "JPOSU" Potter – 183,825
- Vadim Trincher – 163,600
- Steve Gross – 145,025
- Jonathan Jaffe – 141,000
- Kevin "BelowAbove" Saul – 135,350
- Jonathan Little – 131,400
- Will "The Thrill" Failla – 124,800
- Daniel Grubbs – 116,850
- Bill Parker – 113,100
- David "The Dragon" Pham – 109,200
