Fikret Kovac Bags Nearly 10x Starting Stack on Day 1a of Wynn Millions Championship
The $3,500 buy-in Wynn Millions Championship kicked off today with Day 1a as part of the 2024 Wynn Millions Poker Series in Las Vegas, drawing no shortage of poker notables. After ten hours of play, Georgia's Fikret Kovac bagged the chip lead over the 64 remaining players with a stack of 394,000.
The first of three starting flights in the Wynn Millions Championship, one of the most popular tournaments of the year, drew 236 runners who contributed to the $3 million guaranteed prize pool. Plenty of notables bagged on Day 1a, including Alex Foxen, Kristen Foxen, Landon Tice, John Riordan, James Romero and David "ODB" Baker.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | NAME | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fikret Kovac | United States | 394,000 | 158 | |
| 2 | Steven Jones | United States | 340,000 | 136 | |
| 3 | John Betancourt | United States | 329,500 | 132 | |
| 4 | Jack Hardcastle | United Kingdom | 308,000 | 123 | |
| 5 | Dong Min Suh | United States | 285,000 | 114 | |
| 6 | Ardit Kurshumi | United States | 282,500 | 113 | |
| 7 | Mike Chiappetta | United States | 278,000 | 111 | |
| 8 | Chris Hak | Canada | 273,000 | 109 | |
| 9 | Rick Mechammil | United States | 264,000 | 106 | |
| 10 | Chad Lipton | United States | 259,500 | 104 |
Day 1a Action
There were big names in the Day 1a field from the beginning, with inaugural champion Andrew Moreno, Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter, soap opera star Farah Galfond and acclaimed author and Maria Konnikova all among the first players to take their seats. Konnikova took an early beat when her flopped nut flush was outdrawn by the runner-runner boat of Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, but both players managed to stick around to bag.
The big names kept on coming as the hours rolled on, including those who busted Day 2 of the $2,200 NLH 6-Max like poker coach Jonathan Little, 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen and 2023 GPI Player of the Year Bin Weng.
There were also moments of serendipity, like when 2023 WSOP Main Event runners-up Adam Walton and Steven Jones were seated side-by-side eight months after they both became millionaires. But the summer reunion ended in a cooler that saw Walton's set of aces crushed by the rivered straight of his WSOP companion.
Walton took the beat with a smile and even stuck around for several hours to sweat the 6-Max final table taking place across the room.
Some of the other players who didn't survive to bag include Ryan Laplante, Clemen Deng, Brock Wilson, Bill Klein, Justin Young and Jared Jaffee.
There are still two more starting flights to play out, including Day 1b that will kick off on Friday, March 8 at noon local time.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site at Wynn Las Vegas tomorrow for continued coverage of the Wynn Millions Championship.