Day 1 of the $10,300 High Roller at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Festival has concluded. The opening day of the three-day tournament at Resorts World Las Vegas drew 138 entrants, with 64 players bagging for Day 2.
Robert Borick leads the field heading into Day 2, bagging 241,000 chips. Close behind in second place is Jon Kyte with 235,000, while Tauan Naves rounds out the top three with 231,000.
Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Borick | United States | 241,000 |
| 2 | Jon Kyte | Norway | 235,000 |
| 3 | Tauan Naves | Brazil | 231,000 |
| 4 | Thomas Eychenne | France | 228,000 |
| 5 | Valentyn Shabelnyk | Ukraine | 206,000 |
| 6 | Steven McKuin | United States | 201,000 |
| 7 | Brian Altman | United States | 185,500 |
| 8 | Jerome Finck | France | 169,500 |
| 9 | John Krpan | Canada | 168,700 |
| 10 | Nadezhda Magnus | United States | 160,000 |
Other notables to make Day 2 include James Collopy (156,500), Bill Klein (147.500), Erik Seidel (123,500), Gal Yifrach (114,000), Jonathan Tamayo (93,000), Scott Seiver (68,500), Jonathan Little (61,000) Jeremy Becker (49,500), Shannon Shorr (46,500), and Sam Soverel (40,000).
Day 1 Action
The fireworks started early on Day 1, with the first elimination coming in a five-bet preflop pot between Patrick Leonard and Shundan Xiao. After Leonard called Xiao’s five-bet, he raised her bet on a queen-high flop. Xiao called, and the two players got all the money in on the turn. Xiao was devastated to see her pocket kings were crushed by Leonard’s set of queens. The river brought no help for Xiao, making her the first player eliminated.
Later in the day, Leonard found himself in another massive pot, this time against Elias Gutierrez. On the turn, with roughly 13,000 in the pot on an ace-high, three-spade board, Leonard check-raised Gutierrez’s bet of 3,500 to 15,000. After Gutierrez called, Leonard shoved the river, only to be snap-called by Gutierrez, who revealed the nut flush. Leonard mucked his nine-high flush, leaving himself short.
Thomas Eychenne dealt the ultimate cooler to Vlastimil Pustina after the players got all-in pre-flop. Pustina ran his pocket kings into Eychenne’s pocket aces in a pot worth over 135,000 chips, and was unable to improve, sending him to the rail.
With late registration open until the start of Day 2, many new faces are expected to join the field. Additionally, this is a one-reentry tournament, so several players will have the opportunity to use their second bullet tomorrow, including Jeremy Ausmus, David Peters, Isaac Kempton, Michael Liang, and Martin Zamani .
Players who used both of their bullets on Day 1 and will not be returning for Day 2 include Justin Saliba, Bin Weng, Maria Ho, Dan Shak, and Patrick Leonard.
Action will resume November 9 at 12:30 p.m. local time, starting with Level 11 and blinds at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 big blind ante. Players are scheduled to play 10 levels, with a 15-minute break after every two levels and a 75-minute dinner break after Level 16.
Be sure to follow PokerNews for live updates and coverage of this event until the conclusion on Sunday November 10.