Marsico Soars into the Lead in Day 2abc of $10,000 Main Event Championship
Day 2abc of Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event saw 3,143 hopefuls reconvene in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to continue their shot at becoming poker's next world champion. They were joined by 206 late-registrants, bringing the total entrants for this year's Main Event up to 9,493 — just 550 shy of the record-breaking 10,043 entrants from last year.
By the time play ended for the day, fewer than half of those who sat down secured a spot on Day 3. Anthony Marsico claimed the top spot after running his modest 76,900 into a massive stack of 797,000 by the time the last hand was dealt. Marsico, who recently placed fourth in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship, explained he won an enormous pot wherein a player four-bet shoved for over 200,000 after Marsico three-bet with kings. His opponent held ace-king, and Marsico held up.
The final number of entrants, along with prize pool and payout information, will be determined at some point after late registration ends on Day 2d. Late registration will officially close at the end of Level 7 on Day 2d, so a record-setting Main Event is still within reach. The remaining players from Day 2abc and Day 2d will reconvene for Day 3 on Tuesday, July 9, at noon.
End of Day 2abc Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Day 3 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Marsico | United States | 797,000 | 319 |
| 2 | Christopher Vincent | United States | 772,000 | 309 |
| 3 | Manuel Machado | United States | 680,500 | 272 |
| 4 | Jangkyu Lee | South Korea | 665,500 | 266 |
| 5 | Karo Nuri | Switzerland | 646,500 | 259 |
| 6 | Diogo Veiga | Portugal | 615,500 | 246 |
| 7 | Damarjai Davenport | United States | 615,000 | 246 |
| 8 | Valentin Oberhauser | France | 613,500 | 245 |
| 9 | Assaf Zeharia | Israel | 601,000 | 240 |
| 10 | Mehrdad Vahabi | United States | 595,000 | 238 |
Several Main Event champions took their seats at the start of the day in hopes of becoming the first person to win the Main Event more than once since Stu Ungar, who accomplished the feat for a third time in 1997. While many were unable to bag, including Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, Phil Hellmuth, Qui Nguyen, and Chris Moneymaker, a few kept their repeat dreams alive.
Faring best of the bunch was Hossein Ensan, who ended the day with 353,000. Scott Blumstein and Koray Aldemir also bagged up a respectable 236,000 and 242,000, respectively.
"I always enjoy playing the Main Event a lot. It's a great structure, of course. I've got off to a good start. Nothing crazy so far," Aldemir explained.
Aldemir, who is no stranger to deep Main Event runs (having cashed it four separate times, including his win), had this to say for anyone running deep in the event:
"It's still a normal poker tournament...same rules as any other tournament. I think some people overestimate the fact that it is the Main Event. Maybe they're too scared to put the money on the line and things like that. Just stick to your game."
Other notables who earned a Day 3 berth include Diogo Veiga (540,000), John Hennigan (470,000), Bin Weng (350,500), Arden Cho (328,000), Daniel Negreanu (95,000), and John Duthie — who benefitted from a late-night surge after eliminating James Dempsey late in the evening en route to bagging 419,500.
However, as is always the case in poker, one person's success means another's misfortune. Among those who will have to wait until next year for Main Event glory are Dominik Nitsche, Julien Martini, Noah Schwartz, Patrick Leonard, and three-time bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst, who made a rare appearance at the WSOP after giving up playing poker full time back in 2018. Selbst wasted little time getting involved in pots and experienced a rollercoaster of ups and downs early on. As the day progressed, Selbst found herself largely card dead and ultimately ended up busting in the evening hours.
Kevin Martin of Big Brother and Twitch fame was also eliminated after getting his pocket kings cracked by queens and took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.
Action resumes on Monday, July 8 at noon for Day 2d. Play will begin on Level 6, which features 400/800 blinds with an 800 big blind ante. Day 3 kicks off on July 9, also at noon, with Level 11, where blinds are 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action in the coming days leading to the next Main Event champion!