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Sam Trickett Dominates Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Big One For One Drop Tournament

Just 42 Players Enter Event, Down From 48 In 2012

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Sam TrickettCard Player’s 2014 WSOP coverage is sponsored by CarbonPoker.

In 2012, during the inaugural World Series of Poker $1 million buy-in Big One For One Drop, the interest was so strong that people were actually turned away from the 48-player capped field. So when it was announced that Guy Laliberte and his hosts were increasing the cap to 56, many in the poker world believed the event would once again sell out.

Instead, just 42 players registered for this year’s event, creating a prize pool of $37,333,338, with $15,306,668 going to the eventual winner. The no-rake event did collect $111,111 from every buy-in, meaning $4,666,662 will be going to the One Drop Foundation, a charity that provides clean water worldwide. The final eight players will make the money, earning a minimum of $1,306,607.

Despite the fact that each player started the day incredibly deep with 3 million in chips and stacks of 500 big blinds, Sam Trickett, who finished runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari in 2012, was able to dominate the competition. With just three players eliminated from the tournament, Trickett had already amassed a stack larger than the final table average.

The British pro with $20 million in lifetime earnings was already leading the field when he found himself heads-up in a huge pot against the field’s only female, Vanessa Selbst. With the blinds at 15,000-30,000 with a 5,000 ante, Selbst raised to 65,000 from the cutoff. Trickett three-bet to 205,000 from the button and Selbst four-bet to 520,000. Trickett five-bet to 820,000 and Selbst almost immediately moved all in for her last 3,900,000. The move was so abrupt, that it had Trickett concerned.

“I do not see how I can ever fold this,” he said. “Why did you go all in so fast? I’ve got a very big hand.”

After a few more seconds in the tank, Trickett called, turning over pocket kings. Selbst needed help with AClub SuitKSpade Suit and got there when the flop fell AHeart Suit9Diamond Suit6Spade Suit. Trickett was pained by the ace on the flop, but the case king on the turn changed everything. The river failed to give Selbst aces full and she was eliminated.

Trickett rode that pot and two other eliminations to a stack of 13,400,000 to end the day. His nearest competitor, Macau’s Tom Hall, has 9,125,000. The rest of the top five is rounded out by Phil Ivey (7,675,000), Daniel Colman (6,875,000) and defending champion Antonio Esfandiari (6,725,000).

Just 31 players survived the day after Rono Lo, Dan Smith, Niklas Heinecker, Philipp Gruissem, Brian Rast, Max Altergott, Igor Kurganov, Stanley Choi, David Einhorn and Selbst were sent to the rail.

Here is a look at the overnight chip counts.

Rank Player Chip Count
1 Sam Trickett 13,400,000
2 Tom Hall 9,125,000
3 Phil Ivey 7,675,000
4 Daniel Colman 6,875,000
5 Antonio Esfandiari 6,725,000
6 Noah Schwartz 6,275,000
7 Rick Salomon 5,890,000
8 David Sands 4,615,000
9 Phil Galfond 4,390,000
10 Daniel Negreanu 4,270,000
11 Erik Seidel 4,250,000
12 Brandon Steven 4,205,000
13 Tobias Reinkemeier 4,125,000
14 Doug Polk 3,885,000
15 Connor Drinan 3,685,000
16 Gabe Kaplan 3,475,000
17 Tony Gregg 3,415,000
18 Isaac Haxton 3,370,000
19 John Juanda 3,215,000
20 Cary Katz 2,945,000
21 Paul Newey 2,845,000
22 Bill Klein 2,840,000
23 Erick Lindgren 2,175,000
24 Christoph Vogelsang 2,060,000
25 John Morgan 1,800,000
26 Talal Shakerchi 1,685,000
27 Dan Cates 1,670,000
28 Greg Merson 1,625,000
29 Scott Seiver 1,165,000
30 Guy Laliberte 1,030,000
31 Jean-Robert Bellande 1,005,000

For more coverage from the 2014 summer series, visit our WSOP landing page.

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