Day 1 of Event #46: $500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout at the 2023 World Series of Poker hosted at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas battled down from 5,342 unique entries to 238 hopefuls. All returning competitors will be guaranteed a cash of $1,611, but it will be the coveted bracelet and the $262,526 first-place purse that everyone will be after.
Preston McEwen, the popular RunGood enthusiast, ended the night leading the field. PokerNews had a chance to speak with him back in March after a very successful WSOPC season. Plenty of big stacks battled to set themselves up for Day 2, including the likes of Yita Choon (1,840,000) from Australia and Filcioni Pollermann (1,690,000), representing Brazil.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preston McEwen | United States | 2,040,000 | 68 |
| 2 | Nicholas Ronalds | United States | 1,960,000 | 65 |
| 3 | Yita Choong | Australia | 1,840,000 | 61 |
| 4 | Kenneth Hernandez | United States | 1,800,045 | 60 |
| 5 | Filcioni Pollermann | Brazil | 1,690,000 | 56 |
| 6 | Marc Desantis | United States | 1,600,000 | 53 |
| 7 | Derek Brumbaugh | United States | 1,585,000 | 53 |
| 8 | Spencer Champlin | United States | 1,580,000 | 53 |
| 9 | Russell Koch | United States | 1,495,000 | 50 |
| 10 | Enjamin Mirsaidi | Germany | 1,490,000 | 50 |
Other notables to make it through Day 1 include popular poker personalities Robert Kuhn (830,000) and Jamie Kerstetter (495,000)
Three previous Main Event winners were seen in the field in the form of Chris Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, and Jerry Yang, all of whom failed to find a bag for Day 2.
Plenty of female players in the field made a strong showing including Ebony Kenney, Tiffany Michelle, Maria Ho, Marle Spragg, and Farah Galfond who were all eliminated before the day ended. Veronica Brill was going great until she took a tough beat to lose a 700,000 pot that often would have chopped.
Players will return at 10 a.m. local time on June 21 in Level 23, where blinds are 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.
Keep your browsers locked to PokerNews as our live reporting team rides this event down to the crowning of its champion.
