The final Main Event of the 2016/2017 WSOP Circuit season drew 758 entries across its two starting flights, putting a top prize of $227,412 up for grabs in addition to the season’s final gold ring.
Day 1A was responsible for 311 of those entries, with 58 players advancing to Day 2 from that flight. Another 447 showed up for Day 1B, with 86 of them advancing at the end of the night.
Louisiana’s own Jonathan Poche knows his way around this building, both inside and out. The local pro won the Circuit Main Event here in 2011, collecting his first ring and a career-best score of more than $120,000. Poche hasn’t been back until now, but his return visit to Harrah’s New Orleans is so far going about as well as could be expected. He bagged up the big stack of 244,000 chips after Day 1A to take the overnight lead through the first flight.
Eric Sutton (pictured) did more work than anyone on Day 1, though, turning his 20,000-chip starting stack into 335,000 over the course of his Day 1B session. Sutton is a fixture on the Circuit who’s still in search of a breakthrough result, and he’s put himself in good position to chase down that goal this weekend. He’ll set the pace for the 144 remaining players when Day 2 begins.
Here’s the top of the overnight leaderboard:
1: Eric Sutton - 335,000
2: Peter Dominic - 326,000
3: William Tait - 252,000
4: Jett Schnecker - 246,000
5: Jonathan Poche - 244,000
Six-time ring winner Vincent Moscati (207,500) also advanced to Day 2 near the top. DeJuante Alexander (187,000) is through, too, as are Joe Tehan (180,500), Sam Grizzle (155,500), Viet Vo (147,000), Loni Harwood (133,500), Doug Carli (127,500), Caufman Talley (120,500), Kyle Cartwright (111,500), Cory Waaland (96,000), Nadya Magnus (72,500), Phil Hui (54,500), and Jonathan Hilton (24,500).
Use the links below for the complete end-of-day lists.
Chip Counts | Seat Draw
The 144 survivors will return Sunday for the combined Day 2. Only 81 of them will finish in the money, so crossing that hurdle will be the first item on the day’s to-do list. Blinds will be 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante when play resumes, putting the average stack around 35 big blinds.
Cards go in the air at 12 p.m.