Nicholas Haynes, a dealer at the ARIA poker room, won the WSOP Casino Employees event on Friday. (WSOP photo)

The madness continued at the 2019 World Series of Poker on Friday as the second flight of the Big 50 brought out another massive field that impacted nearly every other event on the schedule.

ARIA Dealers Go Back-to-Back in $565 Casino Employees Event

Last year, Jordan Hufty, a dealer at the ARIA poker room, won the Casino Employees event. Friday afternoon on the ESPN main stage, Nicholas Haynes, another ARIA dealer, picked up his first bracelet and $62,248 for winning this year’s Casino Employees event.

Haynes, 39, believes being able to deal to some of the world’s best players at ARIA has helped him develop as a player.

“There’s a lot of incredible players (at ARIA) and I watch them and just pick up little bits here and there and over time you just become better,” Haynes said. “I feel like they were very instrumental in my play today. That’s why I’m thankful for my job and the players there.”

WSOP media relations manager Isaac Hanson finished as the runner-up and walked away with $38,447.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Nicholas Haynes – $62,248
  2. Isaac Hanson – $38,447
  3. Jorge Ruiz – $26,642
  4. Jesse Kertland – $18,758
  5. Adam Lamers – $13,421
  6. Jeffrey Fast – $9,761

Big 50 Day 1B Draws Capacity Field, Creates Chaos for Other Events

Another 6,000+ players filled the tables at the Rio for Day 1B of the $500 Big 50 event. This puts the Big 50 on pace to surpass the 2015 Colossus event as the largest live poker tournament in history.

In anticipation of having almost all tables in play, WSOP officials initially told Day 2A players on Thursday night that their restart, which was originally scheduled for 2 PM, was pushed back to 5 PM. On Friday, that restart was pushed back again and players didn’t get cards in play until nearly 7 PM. To help thin the field in for Day 2B, players were made to play extra level on Friday night and will play one less on Saturday.

There were so many players on Friday that WSOP officials were forced to put tables in an abandoned bowling alley in the casino portion of the Rio. The chaos that filled the Rio hallways on Friday reminded some players of another recent event that had great intentions in the planning but struggled with execution.

Alexander Kartveli had no trouble with the big field though. He ended with the largest Day 1B stack, putting 892,000 in the bag when play wrapped up for the night. Brenton Rincker ended with the second biggest stack at 762,000.

Some of the notables who bagged chips on Friday include Phil Hui (414,000), Chris Ferguson (345,000), Jake Schwartz (257,000), and Jamie Kerstetter (115,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Alexander Kartveli – 892,000
  2. Brenton Rincker – 762,000
  3. Michelle Porter – 703,000
  4. Jordan Bane – 685,000
  5. Michael Abratique – 660,000
  6. Aaron Duczak – 625,000
  7. Michael Anton – 622,000
  8. Jesse Solano – 610,000
  9. Patricia Altizer – 598,000
  10. Azad Arazm – 597,000

Mikhail Vilkov Overcomes Chaos to Build Big 50 Day 2A Top Stack

Once the 1,580 returning players were able to take their seats and play some cards, only three other players managed to surpass the 3,000,000 mark: Mikhail Vilkov (3,475,000), Joshua Thibodaux (3,215,000), and Amer Torbey (3,025,000).

Some of the notables that managed to make Day 3 include Daniel Zack (1,700,000), Marvin Rettenmaier (1,365,000), Blake Bohn (1,265,000), John Racener (980,000), Matt Berkey (750,000). Those players will now to wait until Day 3 on Wednesday to resume.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Mikhail Vilkov – 3,475,000
  2. Joshua Thibodaux – 3,215,000
  3. Amer Torbey – 3,025,000
  4. Justin Powell – 2,800,000
  5. Yuliyan Kolev – 2,800,000
  6. Bao Le – 2,600,000
  7. Omer Mecica – 2,555,000
  8. Anthony Marquez – 2,300,000
  9. Amit Makhija – 2,275,000
  10. Sarkis Karapetian – 2,200,000

Rick Fuller Leads Final 36 in $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo

The decision by WSOP officials to make most $1,500 tournament four-day tournaments was front and center on Friday night as 36 players advanced to Day 2 in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event.

Some players voiced concern that too many advancing late into Day 2 and Day 3 might not have the impact WSOP officials expected.

Rick Fuller finished Day 2 with 474,000 and now finds himself in pole position heading into Day 3. Ben Yu, Mike Matusow, Andrey Zaichenko, Patrick Leonard, Shannon Shorr, Jeff Madsen, and John Monnette were among the notable names to advance to Day 3.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Rick Fuller – 474,000
  2. Clifford Schinkoeth – 448,000
  3. Tom McCormick – 400,000
  4. John Esposito – 350,000
  5. David Halpern – 349,000
  6. Curtis Phelps – 314,000
  7. Nathaniel Wachtel – 314,000
  8. Ben Yu – 294,000
  9. Danny Chang – 270,000
  10. Zachary Hench – 270,000

Ali Imsirovic Rides Early Success to $50,000 High Roller Day 1 Chip Lead

Ali Imsirovic already has a runner-up finish in this year’s WSOP. Based on what he did Friday night, he has plans to improve on that finish soon.

Imsirovic finished with the Day 1 chip lead in the $50,000 50th Annual WSOP High Roller after eliminating Ryan Laplante, Chance Kornuth, and Elio Fox in the first level of play. He finished the night with 1,549,000 from a 300,000 starting stack.

Fox shook off the first bullet elimination, re-entered and ran his stack up to 1,185,000 to sit second heading into Day 2. Ben Heath is right behind him at 1,180,000.

The opening day drew 92 entries and registration remains open until mid-way through Day 2. 52 players managed to survive Day 1 and the field is full of notable names.

Daniel Negreanu finished with 861,000 for the 12th biggest stack. Other players that will be back battling on Day 2 include Nick Petrangelo, Adrian Mateos, Bryn Kenney, Isaac Haxton, and Erik Seidel.

Top 10 Chip Counts

  1. Ali Imsirovic – 1,549,000
  2. Elio Fox – 1,185,000
  3. Ben Heath – 1,180,000
  4. Barry Hutter – 1,081,000
  5. Sean Williams – 1,060,000
  6. Dmitry Yurasov – 1,000,000
  7. Chance Kornuth – 999,000
  8. Justin Bonomo – 947,000
  9. Tobias Ziegler – 936,000
  10. Manig Loeser – 912,000