It was a holiday in Sao Paulo, Brazil today which led to a smaller attendance for Day 1b of the R$25,000 BSOP Millions Championship being held at the WTC Sheraton. Following a healthy 187 entries yesterday, there were a total of 124 players that took to the felt today, and just 40 advanced to Day 2. It comes as no surprise that Leo Rizzo bagged the largest stack today with 700,000 chips as he often plays by the “Win or Bust” strategy.
Rizzo has been known to be all-in blind on the first hand of tournament and today was no different, turning his starting stack of 100,000 chips into over 200,000 on the very first hand. On multiple occasions, Rizzo could be heard throughout the room shouting “Po! Po! Po!”, his common phrase after winning a big hand. Rizzo took the early chip lead on Day 1b and managed to coast through the last few levels to bag the lead, just shy of Day 1a leader, Gabriel Nobrego (738,000).
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leo Rizzo | Brazil | 700,000 | 117 |
| 2 | Paulo Goncalves | Brazil | 614,000 | 102 |
| 3 | Jose Carvalho | Brazil | 596,000 | 99 |
| 4 | Pablo Brito Silva | Brazil | 583,000 | 97 |
| 5 | Matheus Nehme | Brazil | 554,000 | 92 |
| 6 | João Vieira | Portugal | 539,000 | 90 |
| 7 | Keven Costa | Brazil | 523,000 | 87 |
| 8 | Mateus Carrion | Brazil | 508,000 | 85 |
| 9 | Breno Bertalia | Brazil | 489,000 | 82 |
| 10 | Emanuel Oliveira | Brazil | 425,000 | 71 |
Day 1b Action
It was a slower start to the day which was to be expected with it being a holiday in Brazil. However, poker players don’t often take holidays, and the ballroom at the WTC Sheraton was still packed with excitement for the largest event in Latin American history. Many notables joined the field throughout the day including some from north of the equator. Santiago Plante (404,000), David Miscikowski (216,000), and Neel Murthy (eliminated), all made the trek to the southern hemisphere to take part in this event.
Meanwhile, the field was still littered with notable local players who thrived throughout 10 levels. Pablo Brito Silva (539,000), Joao Vieira (539,000), Pedro Neves (398,000), and Alexandre Mantovani (176,000) all have sophisticated poker resumes and advanced to Day 2. After an all-Brazilian final table in the Super High Roller that wrapped up earlier today, the Millions Championship is also shaping up to be a who’s-who battling for a massive prizepool.
Players who failed to advance thus far will have one more opportunity tomorrow on Day 1c which gets underway at 2:00 p.m. local time. This will be the final starting flight for this R$10,000,000 guaranteed event with registration open until approximately midnight. This is expected to be the largest of the three starting flights as the tournament staff braces for an influx of players.
The PokerNews team will once again be on the tournament floor to bring you all of the updates throughout this event en route to crowning a champion.