World Series of Poker Begins in Las Vegas as Johnny Chan and Chris Moneymaker Clash in Champions Reunion

Las Vegas, Nevada, was the place to be on Tuesday night as Day 1 of the $500-entry Casino Employees Event and the $5,000-entry Champions Reunion Event kicked off the 55^th Annual World Series of Poker in style. Players such as Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan were all in action as former World Champions from around the world clashed at the felt.

Johnny Chan Survives Champions Reunion as Qui Wins Day 1  

Event #1 of the summer was the $5,000-entry Champions Reunion, which pitched 493 previous WSOP bracelet winners against each other to see who will win the first live-streamed WSOP event of the Las Vegas festival. With the final screened live on PokerGo this Friday, the field was packed with famous faces from the poker industry.

The 2016 WSOP Main Event world champion Qui Nguyen (663,000, pictured below) took the biggest pile of chips into Day 2 at the close of play, with others such as Asher Coniff (641,000), Aram Zobian (565,000), and David Coleman (534,000) all making the top ten.

Other big names like Brian Rast (505,000), Dan Harrington (395,000), Cherish Andrews (393,000), Dan Zack (341,000), Jamie Gold (331,000), Maria Ho (318,000), and the reigning WSOP Main Event champ Daniel Weinman (269,000) all made the cut for tomorrow’s Day 2, when 74 players will make the money places from the 99 who survived overnight.

Saying Goodbye to Poker Legends

Along the way, some high-profile collisions kept poker fans on the edge of their seats. The 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker was all-in with the best hand, holding pocket kings to Johnny Chan’s ace-king. The 1987 and 1988 back-to-back champion had the last laugh, however, with an ace on the flop sending the 2003 champion to the rail. Each former Main Event winner had a $10,000 bounty on their heads at the start of play and Moneymaker politely slid his little blue card worth that amount to Chan, who fist-bumped his fellow former world champion in thanks.

Phil Hellmuth busted early, unable to make a profit on his $5,000 investment, but plenty of players in seats were inspired by The Poker Brat nonetheless. PokerStars Big Game ‘Loose Cannon’ Nikki Limo as considering being the first player to make an impulsive WSOP merch purchase:

Others to bust included poker coaching legend Faraz Jaka, Canadian crusher Alex Livingston, Chris Moorman, the 1983 world champion Tom McEvoy, perennial Player of the Year challenger Shaun Deeb, 2022 champ Espen Jorstad, six-time WSOP event winner Josh Arieh, Triple Crown (WSOP, WPT and EPT) winner Niall Farrell, and the WPT multiple Main Event winner Bin Weng.

Caleb O’Donnell Leads Casino Employees Event

There were a staggering 1,189 entries in the Casino Employees Event, which costs $500 and saw 179 make the money.  Allan Kwong burst the bubble, his pocket sevens losing Michelle Christie’s king-queen as a queen arrived on the river to send Kwong home in 180^th place as everyone else moved into profit.

Organized for players who usually remain in the shadows of some of the world’s biggest casino event, players arrived at the felt from their usual roles of poker dealers, tournament directors, and other casino staff. At the end of Day 1, nine Americans and one Canadian made the top ten chipcounts, with the latter represented by Caleb O’Donnell, who ended the day on 583,000 chips, well ahead of the second-placed Bryan Lapham on (529,000).

Photography by PokerGO, the home of the 2024 World Series of Poker. Subscribe today and watch all the WSOP drama take place this summer in Las Vegas.