2018 World Series of Poker

The first of three starting days of the 2018 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event is in the books and a total of 925 players took part in the biggest and most important poker tournament of the year at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino.

After five levels of two hours each, only 659 hopefuls advanced and Truyen Nguyen leads before the UK's Chris Fraser for the top spot.

Nguyen, who works in the IT business, used to play online poker before Black Friday and shared a table with 2017 WSOP Main Event 9th place finisher Ben Lamb. In the last level of the night, Lamb was very active at the table, escaping elimination by Nguyen once when they chopped it up when a straight ran out on the board. However, Nguyen then got there a few hands later with a flush draw against the set of Lamb and the top pair of a third player, to bag up massive 324,800. Fraser follows not far behind with an equally impressive 316,100.

Some other big stacks and notables that can now enjoy two days off before returning to the action on Thursday, July 5, are Frank Crivello (215,000), Kevin "Phwap" Boudreau (186,300), Nick Jivkov (186,000), Matt Berkey (185,600), Alexandru Papazian (147,100), Gordon Vayo (87,100), the former Main Event champions Joe Hachem (84,700), Scotty Nguyen (84,400) and Joe McKeehen (36,200), as well as Erik Seidel (72,100).

The early spotlight was on defending champion Scott Blumstein and the 2017 champion was moved to the ESPN feature tables after the dinner break. However, his title defense came to a very early end after he called a three-bet by Brian Yoon and check-called bets by Yoon all the way with pocket tens on a six-high board. Running spades gave Yoon the nut flush with ace-jack suited and Blumstein couldn't get away from it to bow out on level three. Yoon went on to bag up 145,000 at the end of the night.

Other former Main Event champions that failed to advance included Qui Nguyen and Jerry Yang. Notables such as Brian Rast, Christopher Andler, Felipe Ramos, Stephen Chidwick, Chance Kornuth, former football star Richard Seymour and Jonathan Little all hit the rail also.

It wasn't just about the superstars of the poker scene though at the tables on Day 1a, as poker commentator David Tuchman (111,000), actor Kevin Pollak (71,300), and the well-known comedian Ray Romano (61,100) all bagged up along with plenty of first-timers and poker enthusiasts from all over the world. One arrival, in particular, caused quite some attention, as American film and television producer Randall Emmett entered the tournament with a band of musicians and girls in exotic costumes. Emmett bagged up an above-average 133,400 and will be among those to return for Day 2 and fight for poker's most elusive title of the year.

While Day 1a is in the books, the second starting day is just one night's sleep away and kicks off at 11am local time on July 3. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide coverage of all the action.

Jerry Yang has been eliminated and Ben Lamb was not to be found in his seat anymore either, while Truyen Nguyen jumped into the late lead. According to Nguyen, he flopped a flush draw with the on a flop and called the shove of a short stack, who held . Lamb went over the top for little more with a set of eights and Nguyen called that too to spike the on the river for the flush and double knockout.

Gaston Miculitzki had one of the bigger stacks in the orange section of the Amazon room. Right at the end of Day 1a he put a portion of his stack in the middle against two opponents, but it was a hard task to win with against and .

The board ran out and the strongest hand held up. Miculitzki still has a good stack, but it could've been a lot more to bag at the end of the night.

The clocks have been stopped with 10 minutes left in the level and five more hands will be played for tonight.

Kevin Boudreau opened to 1,500 from early position and Chuck Myers called from late position. The flop fell and action checked to Myers who bet 1,700.

Boudreau made the call and the turn came the . Both players checked and the river was the . Boudreau then bet 1,000, Myers called and Boudreau turned over for a full house, Myers mucked.

Not long ago Ben Lamb had jammed into a bet and a raise by Truyen Nguyen, and got through with it by forcing folds. This time, he was called, however, and had a sweat for his tournament life.

On the turn, Nguyen bet 13,000 and Lamb moved all in for 52,375. Nguyen gave it some thought and called to table the for a straight and an open-ended straight flush draw. Lamb had the for the second nut flush draw and the on the river brought a straight on the board to chop it up.

Daniel Reijmer opened to 1,300 from middle position. Michael Nia, in the small blind, called.

The flop was . Nia checked. Reijmer bet 1,600. Nia check-called. The turn brought the . Nia checked again. Reijmer continued for 4,000. Nia check-called.

The filled up the river. This time, Nia led for 5,000. Reijmer tank-called. Nia tabled and Reijmer sent his hand to the muck.

Lexy Gavin raised to 1,300 from middle position and Scott Strode called. The small blind called and they went three handed to the flop. The small blind checked and Gavin bet 1,500.

Strode called and the small blind quickly folded. The turn was the and Gavin fired out a bet of 4,100. "Alright one more card" Strode said and he made the call.

The river was the and Gavin fired a third bullet betting 4,700. Strode called, Gavin turned over her and Strode flashed before he mucked.