World Series of Poker Main Event kicks off

The first day drew 1,300 entrants, with 960 advancing to Day 2 with some household names included.

The 2019 World Series of Poker $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino officially kicked off. The first starting day attracted 1,300 runners, with 960 advancing to Day 2.

The current chip leader is Bryan Campanello, who bagged a massive stack of 417,500 after the five two-hour levels played off. Bryan is a bracelet winner, who triumphed in the 2013 $2,500 Razz event. He's followed by fellow US player, Raymond Travis Rice, who ended the day with 335,000 and Timothy Su, who accumulated 297,300.

The first notable with a big stack is Jared Bleznick, who's a regular guest in Bobby's room, specializing in mixed-games. Bleznick will return with 189,100. There are many other notables, who had a successful Day 1A with the likes of Daniel Strelitz (185,300), former Main Event winner Qui Nguyen (180,500), Jeff Lisandro (180,100), high-roller regular Henrick Hecklen (175,200), Faraz Jaka (174,100) or Alex Foxen (173,200).

The former number one ranked online tournament player Niklas "lena900" Åstedt is also above the average with 129,300, just like Igor Kurganov (129,100), Connor Drinan (127,400) or 2003 Main Event champ, Chris Moneymaker (95,000). 

The spiciest bust out of the day features Liv Boeree, who shoved his remaining 2,400 with and ran into the of Igor Kurganov's. While this hand is pretty standard in terms of poker strategy, Igor being the boyfriend of Liv made it pretty funny.

Liv fell at the hands of his fiancé

The Q88 flop gave some extra outs for Liv, and she noted with a "Come on" and a smile, while Kurganov's "Let me do it. I'll never get the chance ever again," reply summed up pretty accurately what was at stake here.  The turn and the river were blanks, meaning Liv was $10,000 poorer while a great story richer.

Thanks to the deep structure of the tournament, most of the players have plenty of room to maneuver, but there are some, who'll need to have a quick start. High-roller regular, Dan Smith has 21,700, while professional angle-shooter, Alec Torelli only has 15,600.

Unlike them, many failed to become this year's ME winner. Shane Warne, David Williams, Frank Kassela, Bryan Piccioli, Daniel Alaei, Chris Moorman, Brian Altman, Steven van Zadelhoff, and Brandon Adams all busted during the first day. Day 1B will kick off on Thursday at noon local time with five two-hour levels for the starters as well.

End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts

Bryan Campanello	417,500	77,500
Raymond Travis Rice	335,000	45,000
Timothy Su	297,300	9,300
Quentin Roussey	266,400	21,400
Takehiro Kato	259,200	-3,800
Charidimos Demetriou	252,000	252,000
Craig Chait	249,600	-20,400
Stephen Graner	247,100	57,100
Mark Zullo	245,600	245,600
David Lolis	245,100	100
Thomas Roupe	238,800	238,800
Michael Miller	235,800	-10,400
Jonathan Braier	231,500	231,500
Richard Barabino	227,500	132,500
Alexander Yen	225,400	225,400
Yuan Li	218,900	218,900
Nidal Echaust	217,400	217,400
Patrick Serda	216,700	700
Aric Pluskat	210,300	210,300
Paul Miller	210,100	92,100
Juan Ignacio Pallotta	209,000	209,000
Timothy Burt	204,900	4,800
Kane Lai	201,900	68,900
Joe Foresman	196,400	196,400
David Ross	194,700	194,700
Chris Dombrowski	192,600	192,600
David Thomas	191,100	191,100
Jesper Hougaard	190,000	55,000
Benjamin Philipps	189,900	189,900
Jared Bleznick	189,100	123,100
Christopher MacFarland	188,600	188,600
Jimmy Kebe	188,200	200
Michael Marder	185,700	125,700
Daniel Strelitz	185,300	11,300
Pavao Vujnovac	184,800	184,800
Johnnie Moreno	184,000	0
Rory Brown	181,100	-18,900
Timothy McDermott	181,100	181,100
Qui Nguyen	180,500	65,500
Samuel Hughes	180,300	180,300
Jeff Lisandro	180,100	45,100
Sebastian Dornbracht	178,200	178,200
Adria Diaz	177,500	177,500
Robert Chudobiak	177,100	177,100
Henrik Hecklen	175,200	175,200
Anton Morgenstern	174,400	36,400
Faraz Jaka	174,100	57,600
Alex Foxen	173,200	-61,800
Georgios Karakousis	173,000	94,500
Pierre Barthlemy	172,200	172,200
Sara Hall	171,400	25,400
Matthew Ellis	171,100	171,100
David Rees	170,400	170,400
Reed Hensel	169,400	14,400
Daniel Nygard	169,400	169,400
Gregory Fishberg	168,800	168,800
Michael Burch	168,300	168,300
Michael Laufer	167,800	167,800
Ronni Borg	167,100	167,100
William Tonking	167,100	167,100
Mick Heder	167,100	167,100
Kevin Igersheim	167,000	30,000
Dong Guo	166,800	166,800
Andrew Pacifico	166,300	0
Perry Friedman	165,300	0
Ziran Xiao	165,300	165,300
Josh King	165,100	165,100
Martin Kabrhel	164,500	14,500
Philippe Dauteuil	164,100	164,100
Luis Rodriguez Cruz	164,100	164,100
Matthew Doyle	163,700	62,300
Todd Poland	163,400	163,400
Joseph Ardern	163,200	163,200
Lewis Gallo	162,400	162,400
Joey Weissman	161,600	41,600
Paul Mannoni	161,300	161,300
Ryan Berger	161,200	161,200
Dan Owen	161,200	46,200
Didrik Mantor	159,900	159,900
Yee How Lee	158,600	158,600
Marc Macdonnell	158,300	18,000
Jordan Jurow	158,300	158,300
Adam Levy	157,100	87,100
Adam Swan	154,700	13,700
Jason Bullock	154,200	154,200
Jack Sinclair	153,800	45,800
Vitalijs Zavorotnijs	152,400	31,400
Dmitry Yurasov	152,100	152,100
Brian Green	152,100	-4,900
Maxx Coleman	151,900	151,900
Robert Rini	151,300	151,300
Dejan Pustoslemsek	151,200	151,200
Steven Markowitz	151,100	151,100
Michael Stembera	150,800	150,800
Hector Meana	150,300	150,300