It was a case of Phil Hellmuth in, Dan Bilzerian out and a slew of aces versus kings bustouts as Day 1c of the 55th World Series of Poker Main Event offered drama aplenty.
Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship
It was the turn of Johnny Chan to do the shuffle up and deal duties yesterday, the 1987 and 1988 champ offering up “Good luck to you all – let’s get lucky!”
🌟 We're thrilled to announce that Johnny Chan, the legendary 1987 and 1988 Main Event winner with 10 WSOP gold bracelets, will be joining us for the official Shuffle Up and Deal on Day 1C of the 55th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event! #wsop2024#wsopmain pic.twitter.com/XivgNejOPf
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 5, 2024
Bilzerian Busts in Two Hands
One player who clearly decided luck was his best, or only, hope of winning was Dan Bilzerian. The self-styled “King of Instagram”, notorious for his misogynistic off-felt shenanigans as well as claims of winning $60million at poker, lasted just two hands.
The first saw him triple-barrel bluff with ten-eight against aces, Scotland’s Derek Reid later telling reporters: “I just didn’t think he had it, so I called.”
Bilzerian then spunked the last of his chips on a random queen-five shove from the big blind against a raise and a call. Jonathan Dwek hit a flush and it was Bye-Bye Bilzerian.
Hellmuth’s Grand Entrance
One famous name out, and another even more famous in, as Phil Hellmuth appeared with his annual grand entrance. Having already dressed up as Thor, Darth Vader, Gandalf the White, Julius Caesar and Poseidon over the years, 2024 was time for some martial arts mayhem.
@phil_hellmuth @WSOP @junglemandan @themouthmatusow @PokerGO @CaesarsEnt @HorseshoeVegas ANOTHER great WSOP Main Event entrance from The Legend Phil Hellmuth!!! pic.twitter.com/yuPWyPyo0f
— Johnny T (@TheOnlyJTB) July 6, 2024
Flanked by Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Scotty Nguyen and a host of others, big Phil “danced” his way to the feature table to the strains of Carl Douglas’ hit, Kung Fu Fighting.
Fast as lightning it wasn’t, cheesy and typically Phil Hellmuth it certainly was.
Famous names
With the amateur dramatics out of the way, some actual poker was played and Hellmuth and a host of other well-known names made it through to Day 2abc, including:
- Former main Event champs Chris Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Robert Varkonyi, Scott Blumstein, and Damian Salas.
- Elite highstakes MTT pros Justin Bonomo, Chris Brewer, Adrian Mateos, Ike Haxton, and Santosh Suvarna.
- Mike “the Mouth” Matusow, Poker Fraud Alert founder Todd Witteles, and former soccer pro Max Kruse.
AA vs KK bustouts
Those who busted include Martin Kabrhel, Shaun Deeb, Chino Rheem, and Chris Moorman, as well as David Moses and Ondrej Drozd. The latter two hit the headlines after busting in dreaded aces vs kings showdowns on the first and second hands of the day.
Moses was first to go when his aces were cracked, despite turning trips. The river filled his opponents straight and Moses went off in search of some new commandments. Drozd, meanwhile, had the kings but alas no miracle appeared to save his Main Event.
Robert Pardo bagged the biggest stack of the day, with the final starting flight, Day 1d, today.
Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Robert Pardo | USA | 441,000 |
| 2 | Zyad Qasem | USA | 390,300 |
| 3 | Leonard Herrmann | Germany | 306,000 |
| 4 | Ardit Kurshumi | USA | 297,400 |
| 5 | Colin Beveridge | USA | 295,500 |
| 6 | Mohammed Nuwwarah | USA | 273,300 |
| 7 | David Simon | USA | 269,800 |
| 8 | Manuel Pochat | Argentina | 255,200 |
| 9 | Royce Cohen | USA | 254,500 |
| 10 | Patrice Brandt | Germany | 254,400 |
There was, remarkably, some other poker being played in the Horseshoe and Paris Casinos.
Francis Anderson bagged Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration No-Limit Hold’em for a $501,040 score, while today sees the start of Event #82: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
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