Does Bagging the Chip Lead on Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event Translate Into Success?

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Live Reporter
4 min read
Martin Jacobson

Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Main Event is the beginning of a seven-day trek for players to reach the famed November Nine.

For anyone who has played in a multi-day tournament, you've probably heard both schools of thought in how to approach Day 1. Either the, "It's important to get off to a good start," or the "Day 1 doesn't matter, just survive" line.

PokerNews decided to take a look at the last eight year's worth of Day 1 chip leaders and how they started and finished their Main Event run. For the most part, five 120-minute levels are played and the blinds finish at 200/400 with a 50 ante. However, sometimes that hasn't been the case.

Day 1a

What we saw from Day 1a was a range from the best possible result �� Martin Jacobson bagging the Day 1a chip lead en route to winning the Main Event �� to not even cashing �� the case for five of the last eight Day 1a chip leaders.

YearDay 1a Chip LeaderChip CountDay 1a Standing (Entrants)Result
2014Martin Jacobson200,1001 of 7711 of 6,683
2013Evan Panesis190,9751 of 943did not cash
2012William John266,7001 of 1,066did not cash
2011Fred Berger209,5001 of 89780 of 6,865
2010Corwin Cole228,1001 of 1,125did not cash
2009*Redmond Lee134,2751 of 1,116did not cash
2008**Mark Garner194,9001 of 1,297did not cash
2007***Tinten Olivier270,5001 of 1,287223 of 6,385

*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.

Before the 2014 WSOP Main Event, being the Day 1a chip leader meant almost nothing. Prior to last year, in fact, the majority of the recent Day 1a chip leaders failed to even cash in the Main Event. However, when the Day 1a chip leader goes on to win the entire tournament, as Martin Jacobson did last year, then perhaps it's time to start rethinking how important a good start actually is.

Here is Jacobson's path to victory from a numbers and standings perspective:

 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7
End-of-Day Chips200,100342,700721,5001,594,0003,925,00022,335,00014,900,000
Rank22129181418
Total Players Left4,7701,86474629179279
Chip Average42,031107,559268,753688,9692,537,8487,425,55522,276,666

After finishing Day 1a as chip leader last summer, Jacobson entered Day 2 second in chips overall. From there, he never ended a day worse than 29th in chips. Until he actually made the final table, he never finished a day out of the top 18 percent of the remaining field. It isn't quite wire-to-wire, but it's something that we would be hard pressed to witness in the Main Event again. In 2006, Jamie Gold seized the chip lead on Day 3 and went wire-to-wire from that point according to reports, but no Day 1 information was readily available.

Day 1b

YearDay 1b Chip LeaderChip CountDay 1b Standing (Entrants)Result
2014Trey Luxemburger193,4501 of 2,144did not cash
2013Clement Tripodi207,5001 of 1,94223 of 6,352
2012John Hoang180,0001 of 2,114did not cash
2011Ben Lamb188,9251 of 9853 of 6,865
2010James Danielson201,0501 of 1,489did not cash
2009*Brandon Demes137,0751 of 873did not cash
2008**Ben Sarnoff177,5001 of 1,158did not cash
2007***Dag Martin Mikkelsen236,0001 of 1,54542 of 6,385

*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.

Ben Lamb was having an incredible summer in 2011. He had four cashes leading up to the Main Event and had made three final tables, which included a bracelet win, a runner-up and a final table in the Poker Players' Championship. He capped it off with a third-place finish in the Main Event for more than $4 million and ran away with the WSOP Player of the Year title.

Aside from Lamb, though, just two other Day 1b chip leaders in recent years cashed.

Day 1c

YearDay 1c Chip LeaderChip CountDay 1c Standing (Entrants)Result
2014Eric Tracy206,1751 of 3,768did not cash
2013Mark Kroon246,3001 of 3,418458 of 6,352
2012Randy Haddox188,2751 of 3,418194 of 6,598
2011Kevin Song263,3251 of 2,181did not cash
2010Mathiu Sauriol169,9001 of 2,314did not cash
2009*Joe Cada137,0751 of 1,6961 of 6,494
2008**Henning Granstad242,9501 of 1,928553 of 6,844
2007***Jeff Norman281,3001 of 1,743500 of 6,385

*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.

The Day 1c chip leaders as a whole did better than both the Day 1a chip leaders and Day 1b chip leaders. Five of the last eight Day 1c chip leaders cashed, led by Joe Cada who went on to win the Main Event in 2009.

Day 1d

YearDay 1d Chip LeaderChip CountDay 1d Standing (Entrants)Result
2014--------
2013--------
2012--------
2011Mory Little179,4501 of 2,802504 of 6,865
2010Steve Billirakis187,1501 of 2,391257 of 7,319
2009*Troy Weber353,0001 of 2,809did not cash
2008**Steve Austin149,0001 of 2,461552 of 6,844
2007***Josh Evans237,3001 of 1,81076 of 6,385

*Four levels played on this Day 1a.
**Players started with 20,000 in chips rather than 30,000.
***Players started with 20,000 in chips and six levels played on this Day 1a.

There were only three starting flights beginning in 2012, resulting in the largest individual Main Event flights in history for the Day 1c's in 2012, 2013 and 2014. As for the Day 1d chip leaders, four of the five between 2007 and 2011 made their way to the money.

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