Daniel Negreanu was one of the first players to sit down in the first big buy-in event at WSOP Paradise.
The $75K Triton PLO 6-Handed is Event #2 on the schedule, but it will be the first of 15 bracelets to be awarded when it plays to a winner on Friday.
The event offered unlimited rebuys, with late registration closing after ten 40-minute levels on Day 1, and Negreanu pointed out that this series could really test the bankrolls of the rich and famous.
He wasn’t wrong. Negreanu was also one of the first players eliminated from the tournament, along with Phil Ivey, Jesse Lonis, Seth Davies, Yuri Dzivielevski, Jared Bleznick and Laszlo Bujtas – all before the first break on Day 1.
It wasn’t a surprise that all but one fired at least once more. The real shock was that Ivey chose not to.
Negreanu bullet #1
Negreanu lost his first stack in a hand with PLO wizard Lautaro Guerra.
- Daniel Negreanu: 116,000 (77bb)
- Lautaro Guerra: 351,500 (234bb)
Guerra raised to 5.5K with 
and Negreanu called with 
. Both players called a three-bet to 28K from João Simao.
- Flop:
Guerra bet 112K with a set of nines, and everyone folded except Negreanu, who had two-pair. Running threes gave Guerra a winning full house.
Negreanu bullet #2
It was a rollercoaster of a day for Negreanu, and he lost the majority of his next bullet in a brutal hand with aces.
- Daniel Negreanu:
- Frederic Normand:
- Jason Koon:
Negreanu had the covering stack, and all the money went in on the 
flop. No one had diamonds, but both Normand and Koon had huge wraps.
The 
turn gave Koon the bigger flush draw, and the 
river brought in the straight for both of them. That left Negreanu with just 58K, which he lost to Matthias Eibinger shortly after.
Negreanu bullet #3
Negreanu doubled his third bullet to around 400K by the dinner break with just one more level before late reg closed, but he ran into trouble with another big pair — this time, kings.
Negreanu three-bet 
and picked up a call from Punnat Punsri with 
.
The rest of the money went in on the 
flop, and another six on the river saw Negreanu left with less than 10 big blinds. Sam Soverel took those four hands later.
Negreanu is still looking for his first Triton cash after three attempts. He’ll have a few more chances over the next week, including in the big one – the $250K Invitational.
Chidwick makes his move
When late reg closed, a total of 93 entries had created a prize pool of $6,975,000, with 15 players guaranteed at least $119,000 and the winner getting the bracelet and $1,796,000.
There was a familiar name on top. Stephen Chidwick was the only player with more than 100 big blinds.
Martin Kabrhel had joined the action as well and looked to spin up his 20 big blind stack. He found the perfect runout to triple up through Michael Moncek and Daniel Dvoress. He moved all-in with 
but it was the weaker half of his holding that earned him the chips on the 
board.
Big names started dropping fast, with Alex Foxen and Jesse Lonis following Negreanu to the rail. Day 1 was set to play 15 levels. By the end of Level 13 there were just 18 players left, and the bubble was close.
Jared Bleznick couldn't make it to the money despite firing four bullets – he dropped in 18th and Punsri was eliminated in 17th.
Not like that – Kabrhel bubbles
Meanwhile, Kabrhel lost a monster pot to Eibinger.
He called a preflop raise with and went four-way to the 
flop. Kabrhel bet out only to see Eibinger raise pot to commit himself. Kabrhel, with kings and the second nut flush draw, made the call. Eibinger flipped 
for the nut flush and open-ended straight draws.
He didn't need the draws after the 
dropped on the turn. It left Eibinger with a 2.1 million stack and more than 100 big blinds. Kabrhel spun it back up to 500K but lost it all in a set-over-set cooler against Diang Biao in a 45 big blind pot.
Artur Martirosian, Laszlo Bujtas, and Patrik Antonius followed him out the door but with over $100K in their pockets. It leaves 12 players in the hunt for the first bracelet of WSOP Paradise. Action restarts at 12pm ET tomorrow.
$75K PLO - end of Day 1 chip counts
- Matthias Eibinger: 3,085,000
- Stephen Chidwick: 2,945,000
- Ben Lamb: 2,550,000
- Dylan Weisman: 2,115,000
- Nacho Barbero: 1,880,000
- Ding Biao: 1,505,000
- Eelis Paerssinen: 1,395,000
- Isaac Haxton: 885,000
- Sean Rafael: 875,000
- Richard Gryko: 800,000
- Michael Watson: 340,000
- Frederic Normand: 225,000
Images courtesy of Triton Poker.
