Photo Recap: Day 1 of $100K WPT Super High Roller

By BJ Nemeth

For the first time, the World Poker Tour has added a high buy-in tournament to the schedule — the $100,000 buy-in WPT Super High Roller. The event was planned before poker’s "Black Friday," and there was a lot of uncertainty as to how many people would show up.

It’s safe to say that the field of 29 players exceeded most of the expectations for this event.

The first-ever $100,000 buy-in WPT Super High Roller began Wednesday at 12:00 noon. Each player started with 400,000 in chips.

Shortly after play began, there were 10 players — enough to get two tables underway. The first table, from left to right: Tom Marchese, Masa Kagawa, Dan Cates, and Phil Galfond.

The second table at the start of Day 1, from left to right: Vivek Rajkumar, Erik Seidel, Justin Smith, and Nikolai Evdakov.

As the field for the $100,000 buy-in WPT Super High Roller continued to grow, there was a snowball effect as it attracted more and more players. Tony G. (standing, center) was one of those who stopped by to check things out, and he eventually registered close to the deadline. Also pictured in the WPT Super High Roller, from left to right: Justin Bonomo, Phil Galfond, and Nikolai Evdakov.

Erick Lindgren (right) smiles after doubling thru Gabe Kaplan (left) with a flopped seven-high straight.

Ashton Griffin was eliminated from the WPT World Championship in 12th place, earning $63,714. But after a short break, Griffin bought into the $100,000 WPT Super High Roller.

Eugene Katchalov joins the field after play began. Katchalov won a $100,000 high-roller event in the Bahamas back in January.

Phil Laak said that if he registered, it would be a dream-come-true for most of the other players. Laak did register, but he didn’t last too long, as he flopped a set of jacks to John Morgan’s set of kings.

Phil Laak flopped a set of jacks, but lost all his chips to John Morgan’s flopped set of kings.

Vivek Rajkumar was one of the players who entered the $100,000 WPT Super High Roller, and survived to Day 2.

Erik Seidel was all in preflop against pocket kings, but caught an ace on the river to win the pot and double up.

Gabe Kaplan smiles after moving all in late on Day 1 of the $100,000 WPT Super High Roller. Kaplan was one of the 17 survivors who made it to Day 2.

Daniel Negreanu was one of the players keeping an eye on the field size, saying he was more willing to play if the field reached three tables. It did, and Negreanu signed up.

John Morgan of Minnesota has a handful of cashes in smaller poker tournaments, but this is the first time we’ve seen him in a high-stakes tournament such as this. Morgan survived to Day 2 of the $100,000 WPT Super High Roller.

Sam Trickett (center) studies the board after facing a bet from Vivek Rajkumar (left) late on Day 1 of the $100,000 WPT Super High Roller. Both Trickett and Rajkumar would survive to Day 2.

Justin Bonomo finished Day 1 as chipleader of the WPT Super High Roller event with 1,837,000.

TABLE 1
Seat 1. Erick Lindgren – 1,607,000 (160 BBs)
Seat 2. Tyler Smith – 142,000 (14 BBs)
Seat 3. Vivek Rajkumar – 1,628,000 (162 BBs)
Seat 4. Eugene Katchalov – 321,000 (32 BBs)
Seat 5. Daniel Negreanu – 471,000 (47 BBs)
Seat 6. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 258,000 (25 BBs)
Seat 7. Ashton Griffin – 273,000 (27 BBs)
Seat 8. Sam Trickett – 626,000 (62 BBs)
Seat 9.

TABLE 2
Seat 1. Cary Katz – 198,000 (19 BBs)
Seat 2. Justin Bonomo – 1,837,000 (183 BBs)
Seat 3. Gregory Brooks – 611,000 (61 BBs)
Seat 4. Randy Dorfman – 968,000 (96 BBs)
Seat 5. Erik Seidel – 237,000 (23 BBs)
Seat 6. John Morgan – 1,009,000 (100 BBs)
Seat 7. Rick Salomon – 582,000 (58 BBs)
Seat 8. Dan Shak – 558,000 (55 BBs)
Seat 9. Gabe Kaplan – 287,000 (28 BBs)