WPT World Championship Day 1b Sees Guarantee Passed as Dan Smith Rides High

The second day of three starting flights in the World Poker Tour’s WPT Championship Main Event at the Wynn in Las Vegas set all kinds of recent records. After a mammoth day at the felt where 673 entrants remained from a total field of 1,667 entries, the $15 guarantee that seemed huge to many when it was announced was already surpassed in style.

Oliveira Takes Tournament Lead

With 483 survivors from 1,052 players on Day 1b, the total number through was supplemented by a much quieter Day 1a that was enjoyed yesterday by players as famous as… Daniel Neidgrano among others. With some poker superstars making Day 2 in rude health, chips-wise, it was a huge day of action in Sin City.

Despite the EPT Prague festival playing on in Europe, Las Vegas has very much been the place to be this past week, with Jason Koon beating Phil Hellmuth in the $1.6 million High Stakes Duel match and the announcement of next year’s 10^th season of High Stakes Poker arriving on PokerGO in 2023.

Top of the leaderboard after Day 1b’s action was the Brazilian poker professional Aryan Oliveira, whose stack of 1,551,000 not only dwarfed everyone else’s on Day 1b, but took a clear lead over Day 1a’s leader, the all-time money list challenger Justin Bonomo, who ended his opening day just over a million. Oliveira’s stack is the kind that will take some serious stopping on Day 2 and looks bulletproof to at least two big coinflips should he wish to roll the dice early in pursuit of an even bigger lead.

Other Superstars Pack the Top Ten

The chip leader on the day was not the only player to crush Day 1b. Second-placed Andrew Crookston (879,000) and third-placed Gin Tillman (825,000) were two players who used the day to grow their initial stacks of 100,000 chips far past their peers, while professionals Nick Yunis (782,000) and Dan Smith (746,000) both made the top five after the latter came back to Vegas after a little ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) inspired him to get on the plane.

Fomo was too high (and there was no snow in telluride 😝). Flew back to vegas early hopped in 1b of WPT. Insane turnout already, love to see it!

— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) December 13, 2022

Smith wasn’t the only one who was excited to share their progress. Joey Ingram was all-in for the tournament, and when he was chip leader near the dinner break, posted this picture:

https://twitter.com/Joeingram1/status/1602848971633807363

Ingram wouldn’t make the top ten by the time play closed for the day, but plenty of other big names did. Matt Stour (657,500) soared into seventh place, with the former WPT Main Event winner James Carroll (610,000) not far behind. Poker legend Freddy Deeb ran his stack up to 589,000 to end the day in 10^th place.

Other Players to Survive Pulsating Day 1b

From the top to the bottom, there was a superstar from the world of poker at every table. Upeshka De Silva doesn’t only have multiple WSOP bracelets to his name, he’s also a WPT Deepstacks Champion and his pile of 520,000 by the end of the day won’t harm his chances of winning the WPT World Championship.

Daniel Weinman (477,000) will be looking to add another WPT to his growing trophy collection, while Tyler Cornell (450,000) and Frank Kassela (437,000) have put themselves in the best position possible to end their wait and get their names on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup. Kristen Foxen (387,000) did her reputation no harm as the player many believe to be the best female poker player on the planet made Day 2 comfortably.

Elsewhere, there were Day 2 stacks for players such as Ben Yu (353,000), Michael Gathy (340,000), four-time WPT champion Darren Elias (335,000), former WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen (335,000) and Natasha Mercier, whose stack of 333,000 will stand her in good stead for a deep run.