Martin Jacobson Leads $111,111 High Roller for One Drop

The World Series of Poker opened its doors for the summer midweek, but kicked off the major action with Day 1 of the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop. The annual charity event drew 119 entrants on an abbreviated schedule and 78 players advanced with 2014 WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson holding the lead.

Super High Roller Bowl final tablist Leon Tsoukernik continued his bold run in high stakes poker and finished in the top ten after doubling up in the one of the final hands of the night. Doug Polk, 2015 SHR Bowl champ Brian Rast, Dan Smith and 2016 SHR Bowl winner Rainer Kempe all finished on top of the leader board.

A Who’s Who of high stakes poker filled out the field former WSOP ME champs Phil Hellmuth and Ryan Riess and One Drop Winners Antonio Esfandiari, Fedor Holz and Anthony Gregg all advanced to Day 2. Cary Katz, Tom Marchese, Nick Schulman, Bryn Kenney, Tony G. and Jason Koon will also bring a better than average stack on Day 2.

Hellmuth registered late in the event, but not before he had to eliminated negativity and cleansing himself by burning a pair of his trademark gold shoes. The advice came from his father, wife and spiritual guru.

Burning away @phil_hellmuth‘s bad juju. #PHBonfire pic.twitter.com/yE1WOLhw1P

— Paul Oresteen (@PaulOresteen) June 3, 2017

Igor Kurganov also joined the field late after he won his first WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 Tag Team event with girlfriend Liv Boeree. Following their win, they pledged to donate half of their winnings to the REG Charity.

??thank you! We had decided before the event to donate 50% of whatever we won in this tourney to @REGcharity , so I guess karma is real! https://t.co/cDAbx1RxSH

— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) June 3, 2017

Justin Bonomo, Joe Cada, Stephen Chidwick and Chance Kornuth all took to the felt and were eliminated throughout the day.

Registration remains open through the first two levels on Saturday, which could conceivably push the prize pool to near $15 million.

Day 2 gets cards in the air at 2 pm PT with full coverage on PokerGO. The broadcast features hole cards with a 30-minute delay.

Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Martin Jacobson – 1,677,000
2. Charlie Carrel – 1,624,000
3. Doug Polk – 1,522,000
4. Brian Rast – 1,456,000
5. Dan Smith – 1,360,000
6. Leon Tsoukernik – 1,325,000
7. Rainer Kempe – 1,271,000
8. Adrian Mateos – 1,210,000
9. Scott Seiver – 1,199,000
10. Dominik Nitsche – 1,179,000