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

Card 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 AK and got there when the flop fell A96. 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.

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

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