WSOP Main Event Day 1a: Australia and New Zealand Edition

Posted at 18:40 2012-07-09 by Barry Gallagher

The Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker has begun and PokerNetwork will be following the proigress of players from our region. Here Barry Gallagher takes a look at the goings on during Day 1a.

Day 1a of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is in the books. The $10,000 buy-in event attracted 1,066 entrants and 657 of the starting field remained after the players completed five levels of 90 minutes duration. The first day of four potential starting days attracted 12 players hailing from Australia and New Zealand.

A total of seven players hailing from Down Under survived the opening day and will proceed to Day 2a. The best placed is New Zealander Phillip Willcocks who finished the day in 92nd place with 82,700 chips. The Auckland-based player is a regular on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) and claimed his biggest result last year at APPT Melbourne where he finished 2nd for AUD$207,600.

Australian poker star Jackie Glazier (32,950) kept her 2012 series alive as she looks to build on her second place finish in Event 41 which earned her $458,996. Australian New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) regular Didier Guerin has had one cash so far at the 2012 WSOP and will hope to increase his winnings further in the main event as he returns with 52,250 chips. Others returning will be Justin Shelton (40,025), Jason Pritchard (38,450), Tom Rafferty (18,625) and Dominik Leitner (3,650).

Phil Hellmuth was one of the big name casualties of the day and he was joined on the rail by the biggest name in Australian poker 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem. Also busting out were 2012 WSOP final tablists Warwick Mirzikinian and Julian Powell.

Next up is Day 1b and with even more players expected to compete hopefully our boys and girls will keep chipping up and make it through to Day 2. William John is the current chip leader as he accumulated a massive 266,700 chips from his original 30,000 starting stack. He is over 100,000 clear of second placed Gerado Lubas. The WSOP is a war of attrition and many see Day 1 as a satellite to Day 2 so having an impressive chip count is not a major priority just yet.

WSOP Main Event Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Position	Name	Chips
1	William John	266,700
2	Gerado Lubas	165,825
3	Daniel Strelitz	164,125
4	Dane Lomas	157,600
5	Cary Katz	154,850
6	Benjamin Pollak	144,200
7	Chance Kornuth	141,775
8	Jonathan Cuenas	141,675
9	Jared Okun	141,350
10	Eric Kurtzman	136,900

Australia and New Zealand WSOP Main Event Day 1a Players

Name	Position	Chips
Phillip Willcocks	92nd	82,700
Didier Guerin	235th	52,250
Justin Shelton	347th	40,025
Jason Pritchard	362nd	38,450
Jackie Glazier	421nd	32,950
Tom Rafferty	559th	18,625
Dominik Leitner	653	3,650
Joe Hachem	Busted
Arthur Kalantzis	Busted
Warwick Mirzikinian	Busted
Julian Powell	Busted
John Parker	Busted

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