Drinan Bags Himself Main Event Day 1A Chip Lead

The $3 million guaranteed WPT Online Series Main Event shuffled up and dealt on May 23 and got off to a blistering start. Some 521 players bought in on the first of two starting flights, but only 78 of them punched their Day 2 tickets at the first attempt.

Connor Drinan is the man whose name is at the top of the Main Event Day 1A chip counts courtesy of turning his 200,000 starting stack into a most impressive 3,847,386. There is a long way to go before this tournament crowns its champion, yet we have a feeling Drinan is going to be there or thereabouts when the biggest prizes are dished out.

Austria’s Tom Kunze almost clinched the overnight chip lead. Kunze finished his flight with 3,830,846 chips, and has done his chances of glory no harm at all.

Two other stars ended their flight with more than three million chips, too. Paul Hong of New Zealand has 3,266,0741 chips while the Hungarian sensation that is Andras Nemeth was fast out of the block and will return on Day 2 with 3,025,203 chips in his arsenal.

Plenty of other top talent progressed to Day 2 from Sunday’s Day 1A. Michiel Bummelhuis (2,966,027), Daniel Dvoress (2,416,388), Juan Pardo Dominguez (2,070,797), Alex Foxen (1,513,844), Steve O’Dwyer (1,184,247), and Christian Rudolph (932,703) among them.

A special mention goes to the partypoker players who won a seat in the 50x $3,200 seat Mega Satellite and managed to make it through to Day 2.

Viacheslav Zaslavskii – 2,284,875

Martin Stausholm – 1,393,471

Benjamin McMenemy – 823,945

Peter Traply – 538,565

Vitalijs Korhs – 438,766

Jasen Hamilton – 194,944

The satellite awarded 54 seats in total. There is another Mega Satellite that pays out at least 50x $3,200 seats coming at you at 16:05 BST on May 30. Play your way into it from a single cent.

WPT #20 Main Event Day 1A Top 10 Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Connor Drinan | Canada | 3,847,386
2 | Tom Kunze | Austria | 3,830,846
3 | Paul Hong | New Zealand | 3,266,071
4 | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | 3,025,203
5 | Michiel Brummelhuis | Netherlands | 2,966,027
6 | Andre Abreu | Brazil | 2,953,564
7 | Erik Lemarquand | Canada | 2,941,559
8 | Yuan Yuan Li | Canada | 2,887,600
9 | Thomas Boivin | United Kingdom | 2,695,795
10 | Thomas Cavallin | Canada | 2,662,685

Rolle Runs Away With Super High Roller Title

Benjamin Rolle gave himself plenty more ammunition for the latter stages of the WPT Online Series by taking down the latest $25,500 buy-in Super High Roller. Rolle came out on top of the 43-strong crowd to walk away with a massive prize of $381,400.

Only the final table of seven received a slice of the $1,075,000 prize pool, so spare a thought for Linus Loeliger who busted in eighth and popped the money bubble.

Ali Imsirovic was the first player to cash ($56,545). Daniel Dvoress ($65,700), Christoph Vogelsang ($78,421), and Bujtas Laszlo ($105,919) joined Imsirovic on the rail. Joao Vieira ($152,768) fell in third, which left Rolle heads-up against Russia’s Artur Martirosian.

The difference between first and second-place prize money was more than $150,000 but the heads-up duo did not strike a deal. This meant Martirosian collected $234,244 when Rolle defeated him in the one-on-one battle, leaving Rolle to bank $381,400 and the title of Super High Roller Champion!

WPT #29 Super High Roller Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize
1 | Benjamin Rolle | Austria | $381,400
2 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $234,244
3 | Joao Vieira | Netherlands | $152,768
4 | Bujtas Laszlo | Hungary | $105,919
5 | Christoph Vogelsang | United Kingdom | $78,421
6 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $65,700
7 | Ali Imsirovic | Mexico | $56,545

Check Out These Other Superb WPT Online Series Results

Isaac Haxton – first-place in the $5,200 WPT High Roller Turbo for $77,784

Arnaud Enselme – first-place in the $1,050 WPT #18 Weekender for $72,189*

Oliver Demer – first-place in the $109 WPT #18 Mini Weekender for $24,464*

Lukas Schopper – first-place in the $11 WPT #18 Micro Weekender for $4,029*

*includes bounties

WPT Online Series Event Scheduled For May 24

There is a ton of action on May 24 thanks, in part, to the WPT500: $1M Gtd kicking off. We cannot wait to see this tournament attract a gigantic field and award a partypoker player a potentially life-changing score. Be sure to check out the many satellites feeding into the WPT500 and, indeed, the other WPT Online Series events on the schedule.

Time (BST) | Tournament | Buy-in
17:05 | WPT #08 WPT500 Knockout Day 1 Turbo: $1M Gtd | $530
17:05 | WPT #09 Super50 Knockout Day 1 Turbo: $400K Gtd | $55
17:05 | WPT #10 Super5 Knockout Day 1 Turbo: $50K Gtd | $5.50
18:30 | WPT #10 Super5 Knockout Day 1 Hyper: $50K Gtd | $5.50
19:05 | WPT #21 Mix-Max Day 1B: $500K Gtd | $1,575
19:05 | WPT #21 Mini Mix-Max Day 1B: $200K Gtd | $162
19:05 | WPT #21 Micro Mix-Max Day 1B: $50K Gtd | $16.50
20:05 | WPT #23 High Roller Day 2: $1M Gtd |
20:05 | WPT #08 WPT500 Knockout Day 2: $1M Gtd |
20:05 | WPT #09 Super50 Knockout Day 2: $400K Gtd |
20:05 | WPT #10 Super5 Knockout Day 2: $50K Gtd |
20:05 | WPT #22 Omaha Day 1B: $200K Gtd | $1,575
20:05 | WPT #22 Mini Omaha Day 1B: $40K Gtd | $162
20:05 | WPT #22 Micro Omaha Day 1B: $10K Gtd | $16.50
20:05 | WPT #24 WPT500 Day 1A: $1M Gtd | $530
20:05 | WPT #25 Super50 Day 1A: $300K Gtd | $55
20:05 | WPT #26 Super5 Day 1A: $50K Gtd | $5.50
21:15 | WPT 7-Max Turbo: $25K Gtd | $265

Lead photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour