WSOP Main Event day 1b sees both Sergio Aido & Toby Joyce survive

Poker

The second Day 1 flight of the 2020 WSOP Hybrid Main Event saw 171 entries overall, with just 42 players emerging from five tables at the close of play.

With the chip leader of the day ending up being Slovenian player Blaz Zerjav (639,394 chips), there were plenty of high profile bust-outs as well as some poker superstars who did make the overnight counts.

Overall, since play began on Day 1a, we’ve now seen 417 players put up (or qualify for) the entry fee of $10,300, over 100 players now have a Day 2 seat for the WSOP Main Event.

Tonight (Sunday) now sees the busiest Day 1 flight to come, so expect an even fuller round-up tomorrow night on Calvin Ayre(and of course the action on GGPoker).

With other big stacks such as Rodrigo Valente (592,043) and Amir Dvir (538,003) bagging up more chips than Day 1a’s chip leader Julian Menhardt, it was a day for new names to thrive, with other more well-known players such as Nicolas Chouity, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Jens Kyllonen, Robin Ylitalo, Gleb Tremzin, Anton Morgenstern, Niall Farrell, Niklas Astedt, Adrian Mateos, Felipe Ramos and Kevin Martin all going to the virtual rail.

Plenty of big names made the cut, however, with Artem Vezhenkov (511,114), Javier Gomez (427,190) and Qibing Wang (392,108) all slotting into the Day 2 seat draw. Former WSOP bracelet winner, Swedish player Simon Lofberg made Day with a very playable stack of 323,563 chips.

Another big-name player to make it through to Day 2 was Irish Toby Joyce, with 243,195 chips in his bag for Day 2. He wasn’t the only poker luminary to get through to Day 2 with Thomas Boivin (295,681), Sergio Aido (270,355), Luigi Shehadeh (256,730), Diego Zeiter (245,830), Alexandre Reard (216,609), Anton Wigg (210,608), Ivan Deyra (148,142), Simon Mattsson (131,241), and Alex Difelice (114,802).

Sergio Aido in particular is one of poker’s finest and is capable of some outstanding plays, including this amazing fold in the $250,000 Triton Poker Super High Roller Cash Game back in 2018 s analysed by Alec Torelli here:

With some top players already through to Day 2, it promises to be a hugely exciting final Day 1c flight, and a WSOP Main Event in general as play progresses to the final at King’s Casino in Rozvadov.

WSOP Hybrid Main Event Day 1b Chipcounts:

PositionPlayerCountryChipsBig Blinds
1stBlaz ZerjavSlovenia639,394128
2ndRodrigo ValenteBrazil592,043118
3rdAmir DvirIsrael538,003108
4thArtem VezhenkovRussia511,114102
5th‘crackers614’Canada488,96598
6th‘pleasehurtme’Ukraine427,58486
7thJavier GomezSpain427,19085
8thQibing WangChina392,10878
9thDiego FalconeBrazil341,78268
10thDavid CowlingCanada337,99068