WSOP: Schmelev Taking the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship By Storm

Day 1 of the $10,000 limit hold’em Championship saw many of the biggest names in poker come out, and while some exploded to the top of the leader board others just couldn’t make it through the day.

Michael Reed ended the day at the top of the counts, but guess who was right behind him… Surprise, surprise, it’s Vladimir Schmelev.

If you’ve been following this year’s World Series of Poker, you may have seen this announcement coming. After all, the Russian newcomer has spent time at the top of the leader board in seemingly every event he’s played this summer, with a runner-up finish to Michael Mizrachi in the $50,000 Players Championship, seventh-place finishes in both the $10,000 seven-card stud championship and $10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better championship, and just recently he was among the chip leaders at the end of day 1 in the $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better event.

He’s at it again, ending day 1 of the $10,000 limit hold’em championship as one of three players with more than 100,000 in chips.

Will Schmelev continue his dominance? Or will one of the other remaining 106 players (171 started the day) end his winning ways? There are plenty of poker’s elite who will look to do just that on day 2, beginning at 3 p.m.

Last year’s winner of this event Greg Mueller is still alive, but well below average on chips. Returning for day 2 with above average chip stacks are players like Doyle Brunson, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Jeffrey Lisandro, Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, and Justin Bonomo, among others.

They’re all competing for a piece of the $1,607,400 prize pool. The top 18 finishers will get paid at least $22,809 but everyone is going for the $425,960 first-place prize and, of course, the WSOP bracelet.

Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com throughout the day for updates.

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