Hughes Bags Lead as PLO Championship Grows Once Again
Level 10
: 800/1,600, 0 ante
The growth of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship at the World Series of Poker continued as a new record was established on Day 1 with a turnout of 439 runners. That's 11 better than last year's total with registration still open until the first cards come off the deck on Day 2.
As for the action of the day, Ryan Hughes was the big mover as he bagged the unofficial chip lead with 475,400, an outstanding number that puts him well clear of Veselin Karakitukov in second place (350,800) and Ben Lamb in third (314,100).
Hughes got involved in a huge clash with James Obst late in the night with both players toting big stacks. According to Hughes, Obst completed the blind and Hughes min-raised, with the two seeing a jack-high flop. Obst check-called a small bet then checked the ace on the turn that brought a flush draw. Obst check-raised to about 60,000 and called off the rest of his chips with top two and a gutshot but Hughes had a set and the nut flush draw and sent the Aussie packing.
Another notable player to have a big Day 1 was Joey Ingram. The poker YouTube sensation is best known for his content creation, wherein he constantly praises "the great game of pot-limit Omaha," and he showed he can play it a little too as he bagged 258,500.
Others making it through with big stacks included Michael Kamran (290,000), Michael Mizrachi (275,100), Stephen Chidwick (245,300) and six-time bracelet winner Layne Flack (206,400).
Just under half of the field made it as 175 bagged.
Some of the less fortunate included Kahle Burns, Daniel Negreanu, Kory Kilpatrick, Maxx Coleman and Kyle Bowker.
Play resumes at 2 p.m. on Sunday, so come back to PokerNews then to continue following the PLO championship and see who rounds out the field.
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 424 | 1 | Michael Mcguire | United States | 20,000 | 10 |
| Amazon | 424 | 2 | Andjelko Andrejevic | United States | 222,800 | 111 |
| Amazon | 424 | 3 | Veerachai Vongxaiburana | United States | 88,800 | 44 |
| Amazon | 424 | 4 | Ardit Kurshumi | United States | 215,800 | 108 |
| Amazon | 424 | 5 | Jeff Hakim | Lebanon | 140,000 | 70 |
| Amazon | 424 | 6 | Sylvain Loosli | France | 105,600 | 53 |
| Amazon | 424 | 7 | Tobias Ziegler | Germany | 27,400 | 14 |
| Amazon | 424 | 8 | Rep Porter | United States | 133,500 | 67 |
| Amazon | 425 | 1 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 146,000 | 73 |
| Amazon | 425 | 2 | Veselin Karakitukov | Bulgaria | 350,800 | 175 |
| Amazon | 425 | 3 | Zachary Hench | United States | 21,800 | 11 |
| Amazon | 425 | 4 | Matt Stout | United States | 56,400 | 28 |
| Amazon | 425 | 5 | Roman Valerstein | United States | 183,300 | 92 |
| Amazon | 425 | 6 | Tim Seidensticker | United States | 92,900 | 46 |
| Amazon | 425 | 7 | Jonathan Zarin | United States | 107,400 | 54 |
| Amazon | 425 | 8 | David Paredes | United States | 70,000 | 35 |
| Amazon | 426 | 1 | Jyri Merivirta | Finland | 37,800 | 19 |
| Amazon | 426 | 3 | Paras Lakdawala | United States | 60,100 | 30 |
| Amazon | 426 | 4 | Joseph Couden | United States | 73,100 | 37 |
| Amazon | 426 | 5 | Calvin Anderson | United States | 93,400 | 47 |
| Amazon | 426 | 6 | Yan Shing Tsang | Hong Kong | 207,900 | 104 |
| Amazon | 426 | 7 | Matthew Schreiber | United States | 163,800 | 82 |
| Amazon | 426 | 8 | Arie Ori Miller | Israel | 95,400 | 48 |
| Amazon | 427 | 1 | Loren Klein | United States | 82,000 | 41 |
| Amazon | 427 | 2 | Breixo Gonzalez | Spain | 61,600 | 31 |
| Amazon | 427 | 3 | Scott Bohlman | United States | 39,900 | 20 |
| Amazon | 427 | 4 | William Tonking | United States | 215,500 | 108 |
| Amazon | 427 | 5 | David Wang | Australia | 149,500 | 75 |
| Amazon | 427 | 6 | John Monnette | United States | 57,500 | 29 |
| Amazon | 427 | 7 | Ryan Lenaghan | United States | 45,100 | 23 |
| Amazon | 427 | 8 | Eric Hicks | United States | 297,000 | 149 |
| Amazon | 428 | 1 | Toby Joyce | Ireland | 44,200 | 22 |
| Amazon | 428 | 2 | Phillip Mighall | United Kingdom | 247,000 | 124 |
| Amazon | 428 | 3 | Anderson Medeiros | Brazil | 35,700 | 18 |
| Amazon | 428 | 4 | James Crowshaw | Canada | 96,900 | 48 |
| Amazon | 428 | 5 | Max Lehmanski | Germany | 46,900 | 23 |
| Amazon | 428 | 6 | Majid Yahyaei | United States | 410,000 | 205 |
| Amazon | 428 | 7 | Sajan Thomas | United States | 85,300 | 43 |
| Amazon | 428 | 8 | Shawn Buchanan | Canada | 136,500 | 68 |
| Amazon | 429 | 1 | Kan Ying | China | 55,800 | 28 |
| Amazon | 429 | 2 | Joshua Ladines | United States | 151,600 | 76 |
| Amazon | 429 | 3 | Joseph Liberta | United States | 71,900 | 36 |
| Amazon | 429 | 4 | Joey Ingram | United States | 258,500 | 129 |
| Amazon | 429 | 5 | Richard Gryko | United Kingdom | 179,300 | 90 |
| Amazon | 429 | 6 | Jesper Hougaard | Denmark | 168,000 | 84 |
| Amazon | 429 | 7 | Cary Katz | United States | 73,300 | 37 |
| Amazon | 429 | 8 | Josh Arieh | United States | 211,500 | 106 |
| Amazon | 430 | 1 | Nikolai Sears | United States | 32,200 | 16 |
| Amazon | 430 | 2 | Jonathan Poche | United States | 119,300 | 60 |
| Amazon | 430 | 3 | Aleksandr Gofman | Russia | 210,300 | 105 |
| Amazon | 430 | 4 | Gordon Vayo | United States | 132,400 | 66 |
| Amazon | 430 | 5 | DID NOT REPORT 1 | United States | 31,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | 430 | 6 | Mike Leah | Canada | 194,000 | 97 |
| Amazon | 430 | 7 | Viatcheslav Ortynskiy | Austria | 54,200 | 27 |
| Amazon | 430 | 8 | Blake Whittington | United States | 101,400 | 51 |
| Amazon | 431 | 1 | Marciano Cruz De Sa | United States | 113,700 | 57 |
| Amazon | 431 | 2 | Yuriy Boyko | Ireland | 27,900 | 14 |
| Amazon | 431 | 3 | Ben Lamb | United States | 314,100 | 157 |
| Amazon | 431 | 4 | Martin Kozlov | Australia | 127,000 | 64 |
| Amazon | 431 | 5 | Joseph Wagganer | United States | 195,500 | 98 |
| Amazon | 431 | 6 | Michael Rhee | United States | 94,400 | 47 |
| Amazon | 431 | 7 | Daniel DiPasquale | United States | 68,900 | 34 |
| Amazon | 431 | 8 | Eoghan O'Dea | Ireland | 50,300 | 25 |
| Amazon | 432 | 1 | [Removed:146] | France | 234,600 | 117 |
| Amazon | 432 | 2 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 245,300 | 123 |
| Amazon | 432 | 3 | Tony G | Lithuania | 100,070 | 50 |
| Amazon | 432 | 4 | Jonathan Kamhazi | Venezuela | 285,000 | 143 |
| Amazon | 432 | 5 | Mark Davidoff | United States | 258,600 | 129 |
| Amazon | 432 | 6 | Luis Velador | United States | 116,700 | 58 |
| Amazon | 432 | 7 | Michael Kamran | United States | 290,000 | 145 |
| Amazon | 432 | 8 | Timothy McDermott | United States | 29,800 | 15 |
| Amazon | 433 | 1 | Hokyiu Lee | Hong Kong | 292,600 | 146 |
| Amazon | 433 | 2 | Eric Wasserson | United States | 200,000 | 100 |
| Amazon | 433 | 3 | Tom McCormick | United States | 96,200 | 48 |
| Amazon | 433 | 4 | James Cavanaugh | United States | 77,700 | 39 |
| Amazon | 433 | 5 | George Wolff | United States | 69,800 | 35 |
| Amazon | 433 | 6 | Matthew Honig | United States | 38,000 | 19 |
| Amazon | 433 | 7 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | United States | 45,600 | 23 |
| Amazon | 433 | 8 | Ofir Mor | United States | 82,200 | 41 |
| Amazon | 434 | 1 | Ryan Miller | United States | 92,200 | 46 |
| Amazon | 434 | 3 | Felix Bleiker | Switzerland | 70,000 | 35 |
| Amazon | 434 | 4 | Brant Hale | United States | 76,400 | 38 |
| Amazon | 434 | 5 | Tommy Le | United States | 132,000 | 66 |
| Amazon | 434 | 6 | Adam Johnson | United States | 54,900 | 27 |
| Amazon | 434 | 7 | Jason Beckman | United States | 110,770 | 55 |
| Amazon | 435 | 1 | Dustin Goldklang | United States | 37,000 | 19 |
| Amazon | 435 | 2 | Henri Koivisto | Finland | 136,800 | 68 |
| Amazon | 435 | 4 | Pim van Holsteyn | Netherlands | 175,300 | 88 |
| Amazon | 435 | 5 | Anton Morgenstern | Germany | 71,500 | 36 |
| Amazon | 435 | 6 | Joseph Michael | United States | 51,800 | 26 |
| Amazon | 435 | 7 | Christopher Meyers | United States | 73,400 | 37 |
| Amazon | 435 | 8 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | 235,200 | 118 |
| Amazon | 436 | 1 | Charles Sinn | United States | 259,500 | 130 |
| Amazon | 436 | 2 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | 191,000 | 96 |
| Amazon | 436 | 3 | Stephen Hohman | United States | 128,000 | 64 |
| Amazon | 436 | 4 | Dimitar Popov | United States | 105,700 | 53 |
| Amazon | 436 | 5 | Daniel Harmetz | United States | 152,500 | 76 |
| Amazon | 436 | 7 | David Butkus | United States | 218,600 | 109 |
| Amazon | 436 | 8 | Camilo Manrique | Venezuela | 139,900 | 70 |
| Amazon | 437 | 1 | Michail Karapanos | Greece | 201,600 | 101 |
| Amazon | 437 | 2 | Jaspal Brar | Canada | 161,000 | 81 |
| Amazon | 437 | 3 | Daniel Aharoni | United States | 75,600 | 38 |
| Amazon | 437 | 4 | Aaron Duczak | Canada | 90,900 | 45 |
| Amazon | 437 | 5 | Alex Rocha | United States | 109,700 | 55 |
| Amazon | 437 | 6 | Matt Livingston | United States | 100,400 | 50 |
| Amazon | 437 | 8 | Sean Winter | United States | 235,400 | 118 |
| Amazon | 438 | 1 | Andrew Ige | United States | 199,800 | 100 |
| Amazon | 438 | 2 | Robert Paddock | United States | 86,800 | 43 |
| Amazon | 438 | 3 | Steven Gagliano | United States | 232,400 | 116 |
| Amazon | 438 | 4 | Todd Brunson | United States | 29,300 | 15 |
| Amazon | 438 | 5 | Florian Strasser | Austria | 166,300 | 83 |
| Amazon | 438 | 6 | Ankush Mandavia | United States | 91,000 | 46 |
| Amazon | 438 | 7 | Jeffrey Landherr | United States | 112,500 | 56 |
| Amazon | 438 | 8 | Nicholas Salimbene | United States | 59,500 | 30 |
| Amazon | 439 | 1 | Michael Banducci | United States | 131,600 | 66 |
| Amazon | 439 | 2 | Bogdan Capitan | Romania | 102,400 | 51 |
| Amazon | 439 | 4 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 52,000 | 26 |
| Amazon | 439 | 5 | Peter Hernandez | United States | 76,200 | 38 |
| Amazon | 439 | 6 | Howard Millian | United States | 47,700 | 24 |
| Amazon | 439 | 7 | Jussi Nevanlinna | Finland | 188,500 | 94 |
| Amazon | 439 | 8 | Hanna Khalaf | United States | 121,600 | 61 |
| Amazon | 440 | 1 | Jean Moussa | United States | - | - |
| Amazon | 440 | 2 | Kyle Kloeckner | United States | 35,300 | 18 |
| Amazon | 440 | 3 | Anthony Zinno | United States | 124,700 | 62 |
| Amazon | 440 | 5 | Daniel Retallick | United States | 105,600 | 53 |
| Amazon | 440 | 7 | Jerry Wong | United States | 66,300 | 33 |
| Amazon | 441 | 1 | Alexey Makarov | Russia | 41,700 | 21 |
| Amazon | 441 | 2 | John Riordan | United States | 29,300 | 15 |
| Amazon | 441 | 3 | Nicholas Aranda | United States | 258,100 | 129 |
| Amazon | 441 | 4 | William Kakon | United States | 118,200 | 59 |
| Amazon | 441 | 5 | Carol Fuchs | United States | 175,400 | 88 |
| Amazon | 441 | 6 | Joao Simao | Brazil | 197,200 | 99 |
| Amazon | 441 | 8 | Noah Bronstein | United States | 44,600 | 22 |
| Amazon | 442 | 1 | Matthew Giannetti | United States | 128,200 | 64 |
| Amazon | 442 | 2 | Ryan Hughes | United States | 475,400 | 238 |
| Amazon | 442 | 3 | Chase Steely | United States | 111,900 | 56 |
| Amazon | 442 | 4 | Brandon Shack-Harris | United States | 152,000 | 76 |
| Amazon | 442 | 6 | Connor Drinan | United States | 108,000 | 54 |
| Amazon | 442 | 7 | Daniel Laidlaw | Australia | 28,100 | 14 |
| Amazon | 442 | 8 | Tony Cousineau | United States | 40,000 | 20 |
| Amazon | 443 | 1 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 69,000 | 35 |
| Amazon | 443 | 2 | Brian Green | United States | 34,000 | 17 |
| Amazon | 443 | 3 | Eric Rabl | Switzerland | 245,400 | 123 |
| Amazon | 443 | 4 | Eric Gomez | Chili | 19,600 | 10 |
| Amazon | 443 | 5 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 275,000 | 138 |
| Amazon | 443 | 6 | Kristopher Tate | United States | 42,700 | 21 |
| Amazon | 443 | 7 | LaDarren Banks | United States | 93,000 | 47 |
| Amazon | 443 | 8 | Michael Weisbrod | United States | 164,200 | 82 |
| Amazon | 444 | 1 | Andrew Stott | United States | 28,700 | 14 |
| Amazon | 444 | 2 | Tom Cannuli | United States | 42,000 | 21 |
| Amazon | 444 | 4 | Mack Lee | United States | 276,800 | 138 |
| Amazon | 444 | 5 | Mostafa Haidary | Australia | 83,300 | 42 |
| Amazon | 444 | 6 | Charalampos Lappas | Greece | 46,000 | 23 |
| Amazon | 444 | 7 | Xuedong Li | China | 223,700 | 112 |
| Amazon | 444 | 8 | Tim Marsters | Australia | 119,500 | 60 |
| Amazon | 445 | 2 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 296,600 | 148 |
| Amazon | 445 | 3 | Noah Schwartz | United States | 113,000 | 57 |
| Amazon | 445 | 4 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 27,500 | 14 |
| Amazon | 445 | 5 | Anthony Defazio | United States | 46,000 | 23 |
| Amazon | 445 | 6 | Danny Wong | United States | 222,000 | 111 |
| Amazon | 445 | 7 | Richard Lyndaker | United States | 143,100 | 72 |
| Amazon | 445 | 8 | Andre Nyffeler | United States | 60,100 | 30 |
| Amazon | 446 | 3 | Ryan Hartmann | United States | 43,200 | 22 |
| Amazon | 446 | 4 | Timothy Batow | United States | 45,500 | 23 |
| Amazon | 446 | 5 | Alex Lindop | United Kingdom | 43,800 | 22 |
| Amazon | 446 | 6 | Layne Flack | United States | 206,100 | 103 |
| Amazon | 446 | 7 | Thomas Zanot | United States | 128,900 | 64 |
| Amazon | 446 | 8 | Robert Mizrachi | United States | 196,200 | 98 |
| Amazon | 447 | 1 | Gionni Demers | United States | 111,400 | 56 |
| Amazon | 447 | 2 | Jordan Spurlin | United States | 66,800 | 33 |
| Amazon | 447 | 3 | Harry Thomas Jr, | United States | 135,500 | 68 |
| Amazon | 447 | 5 | Lee Watkinson | United States | 88,800 | 44 |
| Amazon | 447 | 6 | Orlando Romero | United States | 273,500 | 137 |
| Amazon | 447 | 7 | Ryan Goindoo | Trinidad? | 110,000 | 55 |
| Amazon | 447 | 8 | Ian O'Hara | United States | 87,200 | 44 |