The first flight of the penultimate tournament of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Event #98: $1,500 The Closer No-Limit Hold'em, is done and dusted, with 84 of the 814 entrants progressing to Day 2. Leading the way right now is Austria's Daniel Rezaei (1,830,000), a serial crusher with over $7 million in live and online poker tournament earnings.
Rezaei is usually seen competing in High Roller and Super High Roller events, but the lure of a WSOP bracelet proved too strong for him to turn down. He came close to capturing some poker gold in 2022, finishing second in, ironically, The Closer's $400 online edition. What he would give to go one place deeper in this live event!
End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Rezaei | Austria | 1,830,000 | 92 |
| 2 | Robert Nemeskerikiss | United States | 1,435,000 | 72 |
| 3 | Kazuhiko Yotsushika | Japan | 1,335,000 | 67 |
| 4 | Valentino Konakchev | Bulgaria | 1,295,000 | 65 |
| 5 | Gianluca Cedolia | Canada | 1,280,000 | 64 |
| 6 | Mauricio Ramirez | Costa Rica | 1,240,000 | 62 |
| 7 | Rohit Kwatra | United States | 1,195,000 | 60 |
| 8 | Bradley King | United States | 1,085,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Jacob Powers | United States | 1,060,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Miguel Lopes | Portugal | 950,000 | 48 |
Nine of the top ten turned their 50,000 starting stacks into seven figures, including second-placed Robert Nemeskerikiss (1,435,000) and Japan's Kazuhiko Yotsushika (1,335,000).
A trio of bracelet winners lurk outside the top ten. Jaspal Brar (820,000), Daniel Smiljkovic (805,000), and $25K Fantasy Draft picks Yuval Bronshtein (720,000) and Brian Hastings (630,000).
Others who found themselves among the 84 survivors include Andrew Moreno (540,000), Kenny Hallaert (530,000), Marco Johnson (370,000), Ryan Riess (335,000), Brock Wilson (305,000), and Ryan Laplante (175,000).
Although Day 1a started at 4 p.m. local time, anyone wanting to enter Day 1b needs to be present and correct at the earlier hour of 12 p.m. local time on July 16. Day 1b players will grind out the same 20 levels, each lasting 30 minutes, with 15-minute breaks every four completed levels.
PokerNews traditional coverage starts on Day 2, so why not use MyStack to update your chip counts if you are entering Day 1b?
