Samuel Touil is now sitting behind a mountain of chips and he was kind enough to tell us how he acquired them. "I was in a three-bet pot with six eight suited and I flopped two pair against a players aces."
The 145,000 chip pot was shipped Touil's way and he has vaulted to the top of the Day 1c chip counts with a staggering 330,000.
Anthony Reategui opened to 2,500 and it was called by the hijack button. Liv Boeree thought about her move for a minute and raised it to 9,500. Reategui quickly folded and the hijack pushed all in, putting Boeree's tournament at risk for her last 27,875 chips. Boeree snap-called and it created the following showdown:
Liv Boeree:
Her opponent:
It was a typical flip situation but the board improved Boeree's hand into a full house and gave her the double up.
As Day 1 of the 2018 WSOP Main Event drew to a close, 2015 Main Event runner-up Josh Beckley and Jarod Ludemann locked horns in a three-bet pot. It was Ludemann who had raised to 1,500 in middle position, Beckley made it 5,100 on the button and Ludemann called.
The flop was and Ludemann check-called 9,700 from Beckley. The on the turn prompted a second barrel from Beckley worth 17,500. Once again, Ludemann check-called the bet.
The river was the and Ludemann checked a third time. Beckley cut out a small bet what appeared to be 12,800 and Ludemann snap-called it off.
Josh Beckley:
Jacob Ludemann:
Beckley's pair of sixes was no good and Ludemann scooped up the sizable pot.
Since the World Series of Poker Main Event went to three starting flights in 2012, Day 1c has traditionally hosted the biggest turnout. With the July 4 weekend coinciding with Day 1c this year and larger-than-usual turnouts on Day 1a (925) and Day 1b (2,378), some wondered if Day 1c would be as massive as usual.
As it turned out, a record field showed up at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, packing the halls and the tournament areas like never before.
The 4,571 runners who came out for Day 1c made it the biggest single flight in the history of the WSOP since organizers began divvying up the field into more than one starting day. Combined with the Day 1a and Day 1b numbers, that pushed the total field to 7,874, making it the second-biggest Main Event ever, behind only 2006's 8,773 entrants. It's nearly a 10 percent increase over the 7,221 who showed up last year.
The total prize pool came out to $74,015,600, and this year's world champion will claim a first-place prize of $8.8 million.
WSOP Main Event Entries and Prize Pool Since 2000
Day 1a
Day 1b
Day 1c
Day 1d
Total
Prize Pool
2000
512
$5,120,000
2001
613
$5,946,220
2002
631
$5,931,000
2003
839
$7,802,700
2004
2,576
$24,224,400
2005
5,619
$52,818,610
2006
8,773
$82,512,162
2007
6,358
$59,784,954
2008
1,297
1,158
1,928
2,461
6,844
$64,333,600
2009
1,116
873
1,696
2,809
6,494
$61,043,600
2010
1,125
1,489
2,314
2,391
7,319
$68,798,600
2011
897
985
2,181
2,802
6,865
$64,531,000
2012
1,066
2,114
3,418
-
6,598
$62,021,200
2013
943
1,942
3,467
-
6,352
$59,708,800
2014
771
2,144
3,768
-
6,683
$62,820,200
2015
741
1,716
3,963
-
6,420
$60,348,000
2016
764
1,733
4,240
-
6,737
$63,327,800
2017
795
2,164
4,262
-
7,221
$67,877,400
2018
925
2,378
4,571
-
7,874
$74,015,600
The number of surviving players wasn't immediately available, but an announcement from a tournament supervisor during the bagging process indicated about 3,500 players made it through, which would roughly match the ratio of survivors from the first two starting days.
French player Samuel Touil bagged the unofficial chip lead after five two-hour levels of play, turning his 50,000 starting stack into 352,800. That gives him the overall lead heading into Day 2.
"I think I played very well all day long," Touil said. "I got very lucky on a big hand when I four-bet shoved with six-eight of hearts on the button and flopped two pair for a pot of more than 145K. I also made a really big bluff at the beginning of the tournament. I just played my game today and my stack has never been at risk."
Samuel Touil had a banner Day 1c.
Other big stacks included Jarod Ludemann (230,100), Patrik Antonius (208,700), Loni Harwood (194,200), Tyler Patterson (166,900) and Chino Rheem (149,500).
Antonius said he was making his return to the WSOP after six years away.
"It felt very special to be back," he said. "I got in after dinner break, brought a lot of action to the table and managed to get some big hands."
"It was great to see so many poker players I have not seen in so long. I am very tired and going to rest for a while after this."
Superstars Phil Ivey (92,300) and Phil Hellmuth (63,700), as well as former Main Event champs Martin Jacobson (38,400), Jonathan Duhamel (17,500) and Joe Cada (16,500) also made it through.
Speaking of Jacobson, he'll be joined on Day 2 by fellow 888poker AmbassadorsParker Talbot, Dominik Nitsche, and Chris Moorman, among others.
Another former Main Event champ did the honors of getting the day underway, but that proved to be the high point of Chris Moneymaker's 2018 Main Event. Moneymaker was eliminated in an early level when, already short-stacked, he flopped a set of fives and got his stack in there against an overpair of tens. A ten hit on the river to send Moneymaker packing.
Andrew Moreno, Marcel Luske, Chris Vitch, Jonas Mackoff, John Racener, Vanessa Selbst and Daniel Negreanu also hit the rail. Negreanu got all his chips in the middle with jacks but took a beat when an opponent with tens hit a set.
The players who made it through will battle it out again on Friday, 6 July, for Day 2c. They'll return to the Rio at 11am that day. In the meantime, Day 1a and Day 1b survivors will populate the venue at the same time on Thursday, 5 July. Come back to PokerNews then for more coverage of the Main Event.
improved Boeree's hand into a full house and gave her the double up.
and Ludemann check-called 9,700 from Beckley. The 
and Ludemann checked a third time. Beckley cut out a small bet what appeared to be 12,800 and Ludemann snap-called it off.
