Turner Bags Massive Stack to Cap Day 1 of WSOP Global Casino Championship
A field of 128 players showed up at the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort for Day 1 of the WSOP Global Casino Championship. It was an action-packed day that saw the field dwindle to just 53 players with Joshua Turner running over the majority of them to bag a whopping chip lead.
Turner capped off his impressive day by putting 649,000 chips in his bag, meaning he will return for Day 2 with nearly 220 big blinds. Turner earned his way into the tournament by finishing twelfth on the 2018 WSOP Circuit player-of-the-year leaderboard with one circuit ring and 17 cashes for a total of over $182,000 in earnings.
The St. Louis, MO native has accumulated over $2 million in career tournament winnings with his largest career cash coming at the 2018 WSOP $1,000 Double Stack where he finished third for $294,760. Turner is still looking to capture his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet, and he can do that here in Cherokee this week.
Turner's closest competitor was his tablemate for the last few levels of the day, Stephen Song. The number one player on the WSOP circuit player-of-the-year leaderboard finished with a distant 374,500 chips, still good enough for over 120 big blinds. Song had one of his most successful years on the poker tour and is looking to finish it off in style. Rounding out the top three counts for the day was none other than circuit-pro Maurice Hawkins with 363,000 chips. With a record thirteen circuit rings to his name, Hawkins is still in search for his first bracelet, and this could be the best place for him to earn that.
2018/2019 WSOP Global Casino Championship Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua Turner | United States | 649,000 | 216 |
| 2 | Stephen Song | United States | 374,500 | 125 |
| 3 | Maurice Hawkins | United States | 363,000 | 121 |
| 4 | Paulius Vaitiekunas | Lithuania | 338,000 | 113 |
| 5 | Gabriel Muzzio | Argentina | 264,000 | 88 |
| 6 | Michael Marder | United States | 258,500 | 86 |
| 7 | Valentin Vornicu | United States | 238,000 | 79 |
| 8 | Jake Bazeley | United States | 209,500 | 70 |
| 9 | Franco Sonny | France | 199,000 | 66 |
| 10 | Sean Yu | United States | 195,000 | 65 |
In this invitation-only event, there were plenty of notables scattered throughout the tournament area. For each circuit event within the past year, the Main Event winner and the Casino Champion each earned their way into this event. In addition, the top 50 players on the season leaderboard also received a free entry. The only other way to enter this event was to buy-in for $10,000 under the conditions that you were in the top 100 on the WSOP player-of-the-year standings or had a circuit ring from this season.
There were only four players who have currently bought into the event which has pushed the prize pool slightly over the guaranteed $1,000,000. Late registration will remain open until the start of play on Day 2 at which point the prize pool and payouts will be posted.
Some other familiar faces to move on to Day 2 include Valentin Vornicu (238,000), Jake Bazeley (209,500), defending champion Warren Sheaves (167,500), PokerNews reporter Mo Nuwwarah (150,000), and Alex Lynskey (58,000).
The day wasn't so positive for everyone has many names also hit the rail with over half the field being eliminated. The likes of Martin Kabrhel, Ryan Leng, Nick Pupillo, WSOP dealer of the year Heather Alcorn, Ari Engel, Joe Cada, and Kevin Eyster were sent packing.
The action on Day 2 will resume Aug. 7 at 2 pm local time with the blinds continuing on level 11 at 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. There will be a 15-minute break after every two levels with a 60-minute dinner break after the sixth level. The schedule indicates that play will continue until just six players remain, but that could always change based on the pace of play.
PokerNews is on the floor providing live reporting updates, so check the 2018/19 WSOP Global Casino Championship Main Event Live Updates page to stay up to date and check out the Day 2 seat draw!
Keep it locked on PokerNews to follow all of the live updates from the tournament floor and to see who will make the final table in this prestigious WSOP Circuit event.
