Event #67: $500 Salute to Warriors Attracts Massive Field in Eventful Day 1
Day 1 of Event #67: $500 Salute to Warriors No-Limit Hold'em was a wild one as the field eclipsed last year's mark with 4,517 entries versus the 4,303 of the 2023 version of the event. Those numbers created a prize pool of $1,851,970 and raised plenty of money for veterans. At the end of the long day, 678 players were left standing as play continued until only 15 percent of the field remained.
Several players finished above the one-million-chips mark, with one of the largest belonging to David Gallimore, who bagged up 1,324,000. The Albuquerque native was spotted late in the day with a massive stack, which stood through until the end of the night.
Chip leader Don Patrick (1,400,000), Uday Kwatra (1,180,000), Paul Serrate (1,040,000) and Ryan Jones (1,104,000), who was involved in some interesting late night pots, were a few of the other players who ended with a seven-figure bag.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Don Patrick | United States | 1,400,000 | 117 |
| 2 | Lucas Tae | United States | 1,341,000 | 112 |
| 3 | David Gallimore | United States | 1,324,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Ron Schindelheim | Canada | 1,290,000 | 108 |
| 5 | Rami Hammoud | Canada | 1,250,000 | 104 |
| 6 | Jonathan Kwon | United States | 1,236,000 | 103 |
| 7 | Juan Campayo | Spain | 1,230,000 | 103 |
| 8 | Uday Kwatra | Ireland | 1,180,000 | 98 |
| 9 | David Medley | United States | 1,153,000 | 96 |
| 10 | Luigi Scarpeccio | Argentina | 1,141,000 | 95 |
A couple of other notables who bagged a large stack continued the Argentine success of the day, following Franco Spitale's dramatic and spirited win in the Millionaire Maker. They included Daniel Cordaro , who bagged 949,000 while wearing gear repping his home country, and Luigi Scarpeccio, who bagged 1,141,000 to make for two of the largest stacks of the day representing La Albiceleste.
Out of the 648 players who advanced to Day 2, there were several names that jumped out. Most notably, 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold, who bagged up 482,000. He went somewhat under the radar and took care of business throughout the day before eventually finding a bag.
Brian Wardrup (813,000), Stanley Lee (228,000) and Olga Iermolcheva (178,000) were just a few of the other players of note who found a bag at the end of the night.
Play resumes in less than ten hours at 11 a.m. local time for Day 2, as this tournament is a warrior test of endurance. There are just four minutes left remaining in Level 18, meaning blinds are 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante. Level 19 sees those blinds increase to 8,000/16,000/16,000.
PokerNews will be on hand for all the Day 2 action, so join us then and see which warriors progress to Day 3.