If there’s one tournament outside the Main Event that really means something to professional poker players, it’s the $50K Poker Players Championship (PPC). It was won by an emotional Daniel Negreanu last year, and it marked his first bracelet in 11 years. Talking to PokerOrg afterwards, he admitted, "I’ve always wanted to be considered among the greats.”
You have to beat the greats to win this tournament, and Negreanu was back today from the very start to defend his title.
“This is so much fun,” he said to us at the end of the first level. “Everyone at my table has said we should do this every week. Scott Seiver said let’s just run it five days on, two days off, and keep it running all year. It’s the one that every mixed game player loves more than anything.”
89 of the very best mixed game players entered last year. After Level 1 today, the tournament screen had ticked up to 31 players. With almost two days of late registration, it’s cool to be late at the PPC.
Dream a WSOP dream
There was one name you wouldn’t have recognized on the leaderboard — Bruno Portaro.
Portaro has always wanted to play the $50K Poker Players Championship. He’s a solid player with close to $500,000 in tournament winnings, but this would be his ultimate one-time test against the very best players in the world.
He played a $600 satellite and won that to get a seat in the $5,000 PPC satellite. After he won that, he jumped straight into play at the start of Day 1.
“I flew over from Australia on Friday, and I told my wife that by hook or by crook I was going to play this tournament,” Portaro told us.
His favorite player to watch is Negreanu. His favorite player is fellow Australian James Obst. Obst was the chip leader in this event after Day 1 last year, while Negreanu finished with the 10th biggest stack. Obst would go on to cash in 11th for $113,028 as Negreanu won it all. Obst was back for another crack today.
Portaro was sitting with Chris Hunichen, Josh Arieh, and Eric Persson to start the day. How was it going for him?
“Okay, just feeling out the whole table,” he said. “It’s a little bit different from what I’m used to. It’s a lot more aggressive.”
Portaro is a self-confessed recreational player who comes out to the WSOP every year. He brings his wife for a holiday, and he plays five or six tournaments. “I just love playing poker,” he said.
And right there is the beauty of the game. The very best in the world up against a passionate amateur, who could flip the script and write himself into the history books. At the WSOP, Portaro's money is just as good as anyone else’s. The only rule that counts here is that if you can find the money, you can take a seat.
Another player stepping up today was vlogger Brad Owen. He’s been playing mixed games seriously over the past year and cashed in the WSOP 9-Game Mix event a few days ago.
“I've had my eye on the $50k PPC for the last several months,” he posted on his X account. “Today, I've decided to go for it.” Owen sold 70% of his action (quickly) at a markdown of 0.9, which means there are lots of his fans out there sweating the tournament, too.
Two-time champ Jungleman out first
Day 1 of the PPC is always slow. We didn’t lose our first player until just after 6pm, and it was two-time champion Dan 'Jungleman' Cates who hit the rail first. This event plays as a freezeout, so once you’re out, you’re out. Big bankrolls don’t count for more here.
Mike Matusow was in, playing a tournament that would mean more than any other he’s played in his long career if he were to win. But what a field to get through. The only three-time PPC winners, Brian Rast and Michael Mizrachi, had joined the party. Phil Ivey ponied up, along with Jeremy Ausmus, Scott Seiver, Benny Glaser and Jason Mercier. This isn’t a tournament where you hope to find a soft spot.
Over the next few hours we lost more players — Eric Wassersen, Nacho Barbero, Eric Persson, and Matt Valeo. Rast was eliminated, along with Brad Ruben, Cary Katz, and David Oppenheim.
Negreanu, Portaro, and Owen were still in, though, as numbers moved up to 88, and 68 end-of-day bags were filled. That’s a significant uptick from last year, when Day 1 had 75 runners. Negreanu had doubled his Day 1 starting stack and will be delighted with how the defense of his title is going.
But there was a familiar name near the top of the pile.
Michael Mizrachi has won this tournament three times, in 2010, 2012, and 2018. He’s already cashed 10 times at the WSOP this summer without threatening a final table.
Has he been saving it all up for a historic fourth?
Day 2 of the $50K Poker Players Championship restarts at 1pm on Wednesday.
$50K Poker Players Championship Day 1 — notable stacks
- 1. Ali Eslami: 903,000
- 2. Jeremy Ausmus: 886,500
- 3. Michael MIzrachi: 850,000
- 4. Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen: 828,000
- 11. Daniel Negreanu: 662,000
- 17. James Obst: 526,000
- 23. Jason Mercier: 455,000
- 30: Benny Glaser: 392,500
- 32: Phil Ivey: 380,500
- 34. Mike Matusow: 365,000
- 48. Scott Seiver: 228,000
- 52. Bruno Portaro: 210,500
- 53. Shaun Deeb: 204,000
- 58. Nick Schulman: 162,500
- 63. Brad Owen: 146,500
- 65. Viktor Blom: 138,000
