Selbst, Lindgren, Deeb, & McDonald Thrive on Day 1 of Inaugural $5K PLO/Six-Handed Event!

No one really knew what to expect today in regards to Event #35 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha/Six Handed. This was the first time a six-handed PLO event graced the World Series of Poker Schedule, so the turnout was anyone's guess. As it turned out, the inaugural event drew an impressive 507 entrants, creating a prizepool of $2,382,900. With the top 48 finishers slated to get paid, including $619,575 that was reserved for first place, the pros turned out in full force. By the end of the night, only 110 players remained, including chip leader Team PokerStars Pro (USA) Vanessa Selbst with 250,300. A little further behind her are Erick Lindgren (208,700), Shaun Deeb (195,000), and Mike "timex" McDonald (181,100).

McDonald, who is playing in his first WSOP this summer, built his chips steadily throughout the day, but one hand was really reminiscent of his day-long heater. Late in the day, Amnon Filippi got his short stack all in preflop against McDonald:

Filippi: 

McDonald: 

Filippi was ahead with his aces, but the  flop quickly changed that by giving McDonald a straight. The  turn and  river improved him to a flush, but the result was the same . . . Filippi was eliminated. "This is the best I've ever run in a tournament," McDonald said after the hand. "And I run good all the time."

While McDonald and company were running good, not everyone was so fortunate. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Carlos Mortensen, Galen Hall, Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein, Eric Baldwin, Joe Cada, Robert Williamson, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Scott Seiver, and Daniel Negreanu were just a few of the pros who hit the rail on Day 1.

While many pros failed to survive, others successfully navigated the field and will be return on Day 2. They include David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Joe Hachem, Brian Rast, Layne Flack, Erick Lindgren, Andy Seth, Jeff Lisandro, and Jason Mercier. Also making it through were Kevin Boudreau and Chance Kornuth, the runner-up and winner of last year's $5,000 PLO event (though that one was played nine handed), who happened to play at the same table much of the day.

The remaining field will return tomorrow at 2:30 PM PST for Day 2 action. We'll surely hit the money and most likely come close to a final table. Join us then as the PokerNews Live Reporting Team brings you all the action, hands, and eliminations from the $5,000 PLO/Six-Handed Event!

Source: www.wsop.com

No one really knew what to expect today in regards to Event #35 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha/Six Handed. This was the first time a six-handed PLO event graced the World Series of Poker Schedule, so the turnout was anyone's guess. As it turned out, the inaugural event drew an impressive 507 entrants, creating a prizepool of $2,382,900. With the top 48 finishers slated to get paid, including $619,575 that was reserved for first place, the pros turned out in full force. By the end of the night, only 110 players remained, including chip leader Team PokerStars Pro (USA) Vanessa Selbst with 250,300. A little further behind her are Erick Lindgren (208,700), Shaun Deeb (195,000), and Mike "timex" McDonald (181,100).