Two starting flights of the Main Event have already ended, with some well-known names advancing to Day 2, while we also witnessed the fastest ever elimination of in the history of the tournament.
A total of 925 players sat down to play on the first day, while an additional 2,378 joined on Day 2 to increase the number of total entrants to 3,303. 2,550 of the field has advanced to Day 2 and they’re currently waiting for the upcoming starting flights to end, before returning to the tables.
Timothy Lau of the US is the current chip leader, with a stack of 338,700. He’s followed by Truyen Nguyen (324,800) and Chris Fraser (316,100).
Chip counts:
| Position | Player |
Chip Count |
| 1 |
Timothy Lau | 338,700 |
| 2 | Truyen Nguyen | 324,800 |
| 3 | Chris Fraser | 316,100 |
| 4 | Smain Mamouni | 311,000 |
| 5 | Samuel Bernabeu | 309,500 |
| 6 | Barbara Rogers | 307,000 |
Several notable players bagged heavy stacks with the likes of high-stakes cash game player, Matt Berkey (185,600), former Main Event runner-up, Gordon Vayo (87,100), former ME champs, Joe Hachem (84,700), Scotty Nguyen (84,400) and Joe McKeehen (36,200) or living legend, Erik Seidel (72,100).
There were also many big names to fall, such as ME champs, Qui Nguyen and Jerry Yang, high-rollers, Brian Rast and Stephen Chidwick or former football player, Richard Seymour. Even though busting the Main Event never feels good, it’ll be probably easier for them to recover, than for Max Steinberg.
Steinberg himself has enjoyed quite a bit of success in the past playing the Main Event, he finished 4th in 2015 for $2.6 million. But this time, things didn’t go as smooth for him, as he busted in the very first hand of the event in a preflop confrontation, holding pocket aces!
Well this is a first. AA first hand of the main. Get it all in vs KK. K in the window. Two players said they folded other aces. GG!
— Maxyface (@MaxJSteinberg) July 3, 2018
This bad beat certainly makes all of the rest look childish, as one follower of Max’ pointed out.
I’m so sorry I told you my bad beat in the first level last year. Clearly I was just holding your beer for this years peformance. #cantbreathe
— Patrick Serda (@SuperSerda) July 3, 2018
Although without Steinberg, the Main Event will be back later today with Day 1C. Stay tuned for the updates!
