Charlemagne Benjamin Leads the Record-Breaking $500 Salute to Warriors
After 17 40-minute levels at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, Day 1 of 2023 WSOP Event #56: $500 Salute to Warriors came to an end close to the money bubble with 654 players remaining. This event gathered a record-breaking crowd of 4,303 entrants, up from 3,209 in 2022.
Charlemagne Benjamin bagged up the biggest stack of the Day, an impressive 1,300,000. Two-time WSOP champion Ryan Eriquezzo (1,216,000), and Kyle Miholich (1,121,000) round out the top three.
End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlemagne Benjamin | United States | 1,300,000 | 108 |
| 2 | Ariel Celestino | Brazil | 1,300,000 | 108 |
| 3 | Ryan Eriquezzo | United States | 1,216,000 | 101 |
| 4 | Kyle Miholich | United States | 1,121,000 | 93 |
| 5 | Dylan Lemery | United States | 1,062,000 | 89 |
| 6 | Antonio Ruelas | United States | 1,053,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Ting-Yi Tsai | Taiwan | 1,004,000 | 84 |
| 8 | Nicola Tassone | Canada | 1,002,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Jason Pedigo | United States | 942,000 | 79 |
| 10 | Prashray Rai | United States | 850,000 | 71 |
The record-breaking field generated a prize pool of $1,764,230, and 646 players will share this money once the bubble bursts, which is expected to happen very early into Day 2. A min-cash is worth $800, with the eventual champion returning home with $217,921 and the all-important WSOP bracelet.
Among the notable players still in contention include Lithuanian player Vladas Tamasauskas (685,000), Austrian Samuel Mullur (618,000), Kenny Hallaert (239,000), and Barry Greenstein (145,000).
Many well-known players failed to navigate their way to Day 2, including Ryan Riess, Benjamin Rolle, Samy Boujmala, Bart Lybaert, Maria Konnikova, Perry Friedman, and Chris Da-Silva.
Play resumes on June 26 at 10:00 a.m. local time, with the money bubble looming, and play down to 15 players or 17 levels, whichever comes first. There will be 15-minute breaks every three levels and a dinner break after Level 26 (around 4:30 p.m.).
The players will come back on Level 18, which means blinds are 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will bring you all of the action throughout the day.