George Dolofan Posts WSOP Main Event Day 1b Chip Lead

But those who posted the largest ten stacks of the day should take heed, as it’s almost certain that not all of them will make the money. 

The player with the biggest pile from Day 1b is George Dolofan on 314,000, putting him slightly ahead of the Day 1a chip leader Joshua Feiger. Matthew Sabiq on 297,400 and Patrick Hagenlocher on 270,300 completed the all-American top-three.

Perhaps the most notable player to make it through the day is ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who ended with a healthy chip stack of 183,600. 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan also finished with a respectable 166,000, just behind Artur Martirosian on 166,300.

Three-time bracelet winner David ‘Bakes’ Baker finished up with 145,200 while four-timer Ben Yu reported a stack of 125,600. The UK’s Toby Lewis, who made last year’s Main Event final table made it through with 106,000, as did four-time bracelet winner Italian Max Pescatori, on 97,300

Slightly further down the chip charts, but also with a very playable stack for Day 2 is Ireland’s Andy Black, fifth in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, which was won by Joe Hachem. Black is just ahead of 2021 Main Event winner, who has 94,300.

Amongst those who are still in, but are languishing in less-than starting stack territory are Canadian Griffin Benger (56,300), three-time bracelet winner Timur Margolin (54,400) and four-time winner Anthony Zinno (45,700).

Even worse-off, but still in contention are the UK’s Jake Cody (32,100) and Hector Berry (28,900), the latter of whom is fresh from his bracelet win in the $600 Pokernews Cup. Other British players who scraped into Day 2 included Mitch Johnson (28,500) and Patrick Leonard (18,800).

While Day 1a fell short of its 2023 counterpart by just over 100 players, Day 1b had almost 300 fewer players than in the previous year. Whether this year is another record breaker largely hinges on how many players turn up for Day 1c, as that was the over-performing starting day in 2023. 

While many may still be hopeful that live poker will show it is still growing in 2024, it is beginning to look like 2023 was an outlier and it seems likely that this year’s final number will somewhat adrift of the 10,039 who entered last year.

Daniel Negreanu is expected to play on Day 1c. Having won the $50,000 Players Championship, the GG Poker ambassador has not managed to make any further cashes since then and is in danger of slipping back into the red, after firing multiple bullets in some of the bigger buy-in bracelet events.