After 10 hour-long levels of min-betting, Day 1 of Event #38: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship is in the books and 41 players remain from the 120 that started.
Bagging the chip lead was Ben Yu (360,000) who entered at the end of registration after winning his second WSOP bracelet in Event #34: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship only a few hours before. In just two levels, Yu was amazingly able to over septuple his starting stack and is looking to win back-to-back $10,000 Championship events.
Also looking to go back-to-back but in a different way is Ian Johns (272,000) who is second in chips. Johns is looking to defend his title in this very same event from last year's WSOP where he beat a field of 110 players for $290,635.
Rounding out the top three in chips is Daniel Negreanu (260,500) who is looking to improve on his second-, third- and sixth-place finishes in this year's WSOP and earn his seventh gold bracelet.
Other big stacks include Kevin Song (246,500), Michael Ross (240,000) and Phil Hellmuth (225,500).
Some notables who failed to make it through the day were multiple bracelet winners Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel and Mike Matusow, who ran into near the end of the day to bust.
Play resumes Tuesday at 2 p.m. so be sure to follow all of the updates at PokerNews.
Justin Bonomo raised from middle position and JC Tran three-bet in the next position. It folded back around to Bonomo and he called. On the flop, Bonomo checked, Tran bet, Bonomo raised, and Tran called.
The turn was the and Bonomo bet. Tran called and the river was the . Bonomo bet, Tran raised and Bonomo called.
Tran showed for the second-nut flush, good for the pot.
With the board reading , Mark Klecan bet in early position and Michael Ross raised in middle position. Klecan check-raised and Ross made it four bets. Klecan called and the river was the .
Klecan checked, Ross bet, and Klecan called. Ross showed for a set of aces to win the pot.
Michael Moore raised under the gun and Stephen Chidwick three-bet in the next position. The remaining players folded and Moore called. The flop came and Moore checked. Chidwick bet, Moore check-raised, and Chidwick called.
On the turn, Moore bet and Chidwick raised. Moore called all in for less and they showed down.
Moore:
Chidwick:
Moore was ahead with two pair, aces and nines, and he called for a deuce.
Instead, the dealer put out the , giving Chidwick a better hand with aces and jacks with a king kicker to eliminate Moore.
Two players were all in preflop; the small blind and Dario Sammartino in the big blind. Ray Henson was in late position heads up against the player on the button for a side pot.
On the flop, Henson bet and the button called. The turn was the and Henson bet again. The button folded and the hands were tabled.
Henson:
Sammartino:
Small blind:
Henson was ahead with his pair of eights and the didn't change that. Henson won the hand and eliminated Sammartino and the other all-in player.
Joe McKeehen raised in late position and Felipe Ramos three-bet in the small blind. The big blind folded and McKeehen called.
They saw a flop of and Ramos bet. McKeehen called and the turn was the . Ramos checked, McKeehen bet, and Ramos called. Both players checked the river and Ramos tabled , good for the pot.
The cutoff raised and Ian Johns called in the big blind. The flop came and Johns checked. His opponent bet and Johns called. The turn was the and Johns checked. The cutoff bet, Johns check-raised, and his opponent called.
On the river, Johns checked again, his opponent bet, and Johns check-raised again. His opponent called and Johns tabled for a turned flush. That was good for the pot.