While all eyes were on the finales of the $300 Gladiators of Poker and $25,000 High Roller, Event #31: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed quietly kicked off inside Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
By the time late registration had finished, 1,230 entries had been recorded, 11 fewer than last year's total. Despite that, a bumper prize pool of $3,284,100 had still been generated.
Jake Ripnick (2,680,000) ended the day in pole position and is currently best placed to make a run at the $516,135 up top along with the bracelet.
Daniel Palau (2,250,000) and Akinobu Maeda (1,920,000) also bagged stacks to put them in upper echelons of the counts. Notables such as Maria Ho (630,000), Alex Foxen (370,000), and Jonathan Little (235,000) also made it through to Day 2.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Ripnick | United States | 2,680,000 | 89 |
| 2 | Daniel Palau | Spain | 2,250,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Akinobu Maeda | Japan | 1,920,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Nikolaos Angelou-Konstas | Greece | 1,675,000 | 56 |
| 5 | Alexandre Reard | France | 1,430,000 | 48 |
| 6 | Valentin Oberhauser | United States | 1,400,000 | 47 |
| 7 | Ryan Wolfson | United States | 1,350,000 | 45 |
| 8 | Daniel Lazrus | United States | 1,325,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Chander Jain | United States | 1,275,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Dmitry Blyumin | Spain | 1,165,000 | 39 |
You Get Ace-Jack, You Get Ace-Jack, You Get Ace-Jack, Everybody Gets Ace-Jack
The big story of the day was the bubble bursting. The top 185 players made the paid places, with the min-cash being $6,015. On the soft bubble, with 187 remaining, there were three all-in calls, with all three showdowns featuring ace-jack.
The first player to table ace-jack was Chance Kornuth and he just needed to stay ahead of Jared Ingles' jack-nine. However, that was easier said than done as Ingles hit his nine on the river to oust the high roller.
Ioannis Angelou-Konstas, with ace-jack, took out a player after hitting running jacks on the turn and river to best Big Slick.
The final all-in and call was between Jack Sinclair and Ken Aldridge, with "Teach" being the player to find themselves on the wrong side of the rail. Aldridge had queens, but Sinclair made a wheel with his ace-jack.
After the players were in the money, the bustouts came thick and fast. Bin Weng fell to Tsugunari Toma's deuces and he joined defending champion Mark Ioli in the payout line.
Other big names to find themselves in line for a payout included Martin Kabrhel, Rania Nasreddine and Ana Marquez.
The remaining players have all locked up $7,567, with the next pay jump coming when 59 are left ($8,375).
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $516,135 | 12-17 | $29,126 |
| 2 | $344,092 | 18-23 | $23,071 |
| 3 | $238,886 | 24-29 | $18,603 |
| 4 | $168,448 | 30-35 | $15,273 |
| 5 | $120,672 | 36-41 | $12,773 |
| 6 | $87,846 | 42-47 | $10,885 |
| 7 | $65,003 | 48-53 | $9,455 |
| 8-9 | $48,904 | 54-59 | $8,375 |
| 10-11 | $37,419 | 60-71 | $7,567 |
Day 2 will get underway at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, at Horseshoe Silver. Play will resume on Level 22, where the blinds are 15,000/30,000, with a 30,000 big blind ante. The plan is to play until the final table, which will be streamed on PokerGO on Thursday when a winner will be crowned.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews to keep up with all the action from the 2024 WSOP.
