PokerNews' Jesse Fullen Bags Big in Day 1 of Casino Employees Event
A total of 1,015 poker players packed the tables in the opening event of the 2023 World Series of Poker here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with 89 players bagging for Day 2.
The field, which was nearly 200 runners larger than last year's total, generated a prize pool of $426,300, with first place set to take home $75,535 and the first gold bracelet of this year's WSOP.
After 17 levels of play, Benson Tam bagged the chip lead (880,000), with PokerNews' own Jesse Fullen bagging the second biggest stack (861,000). Tam emerged mid-way through the day as one of the first players to cross the half a million chip mark while Fullen saw his stack grow steadily, making a run toward the top of the leaderboard at the end of the night.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benson Tam | United States | 889,000 | 89 |
| 2 | Jesse Fullen | United States | 861,000 | 86 |
| 3 | Lisa Eckstein | United States | 775,000 | 78 |
| 4 | Zaen Qatan | United States | 773,000 | 77 |
| 5 | James Urbanic | United States | 618,000 | 62 |
| 6 | John Vournas | United States | 613,000 | 61 |
| 7 | Burcu Dagli | United States | 583,000 | 58 |
| 8 | Joshua Honegger | United States | 529,000 | 53 |
| 9 | Joshua Brodsky | United States | 527,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Sandra Faabeng | United States | 499,000 | 50 |
Other notable players that built and bagged a big stack include Lisa Eckstein (775,000), Adam Rodriguez (652,000), James Urbanic (618,000), Wade Warren (535,000), and Joshua Brodsky (527,000).
The defending champion, Katie Kopp, played deep into the day but ultimately fell short of the money in her attempt for a repeat victory while the winner of this very event in 2013, PokerNews' own Chad Holloway, bagged (211,00). The 2021 champion, James Barnett, also fell short of bagging with a Day 1 exit.
Players will return at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday for the Day 2 finale, with the action kicking off in Level 18 with blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante with action continuing on Day 2 until a winner is declared.
Follow all the action here as the PokerNews Live Reporting team covers Day 2, as well as our summer-long coverage of ??The 2022 WSOP at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.