Tito Ortiz & Jason Koon Headline Inaugural PSCP Main Event Day 1A

The first PokerStars Championship Panama $5,000 Main Event kicked off with Day 1A – pulling 103 entrants, with 43 surviving players at the end of play. Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz almost topped the leader board with only Igor Yaroshvskyy bagging up more.

Ortiz, a friend of PokerStars, joins future HOFers Jason Koon, Steve O’Dwyer and David Peters at the top of the counts. 2013 WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess finished with an average stack along with Byron Kaverman, Daniel Dvoress and Leo Fernandez.

Ortiz was one of the first ten inductees to the UFC HOF, he was former Light Heavyweight Champion and successfully defended the title five times. But he’ll be looking for his first poker cash in Panama.

Enter MMA king @titoortiz at #PSCPanama – ready to take this one DOWN! ???? pic.twitter.com/tfpZoR3Ndz

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) March 14, 2017

Day 1B fires up on Wednesday and they’ll play the same eight levels, with a likely larger field. But with the single entry format to the Main Event, a juicy $25,500 Shot Clock event runs later on Wednesday looking from players short on chips but long on bankrolls.

Several notable players busted in the closing action of Day 1A – Igor Kurganov, the newest PokerStars Team Pro, Paul Newey, the $50,000 Super High Roller winner Ben Tollerene and Stephen Chidwick.

Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts

1. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 219,600
2. Tito Ortiz – 182,000
3. Jason Koon – 175,500
4. Martin Kus – 146,800
5. Luke Graham – 140,300
6. Vincente Delgado – 138,000
7. Marcelo Filartiga Villaba – 127,600
8. Steve O’Dwyer – 117,000
9. David Peters – 116,100
10. Lokesh Garg – 108,900