Day 1A Summary: Salaburu Sits Atop Leaderboard

Day 1A of partypoker presents: WPT500 at ARIA Resort Casino attracted 333 players with 17 punching their ticket for Day 2.

Here are the chip counts for those who survived the opening day. These players each earned an $800 bonus along with their pass into Day 2 (Sunday, July 5).

1. Robert Salaburu – 721,000
2. Kane Lai – 579,000
3. David Belasco – 579,000
4. Richard Avila – 550,000
5. Rufino Lujano – 366,000
6. Loni Harwood – 331,000
7. Spencer Cossette – 299,000
8. Nifong Khamsouk – 220,000
9. Greg Fund – 198,000
10. Shawn Beaudreault – 195,000
11. Derek Salgals – 183,000
12. David Nicholson – 173,000
13. Jorge Riberio – 163,000
14. Shawn Sibler – 158,000
15. Sharon Barth – 150,000
16. Jean Vignola – 93,000
17. John Merchant – 70,000

Robert Salaburu walked away with the early chip lead as nine more starting days remain on the schedule. Salaburu and Loni Harwood had a back and forth battle all day as they splashed their chips in pot after pot trying to get the best of the other. Harwood sits just outside the top five after finishing the night up with 331,000.

Day 1A wrapped up about halfway through Level 19, with the blinds at 4,000-8,000 with an 1,000 ante. When play resumes on Day 2 they will start at the earliest point from all Day 1s.

Overall, 40 players made it to the money, 23 of which collected either $750 or $1,000 as they didn’t survive to be a part of the final 5%. Matt Salsberg was the Day 2 bubble boy just after 1 am PT when his could not improve enough to give him a much needed double.

18th – Matt Salsberg – $1000
19th – Kelly Cheatham – $1000
20th – Christopher Uslde – $1000
21st – Robert Altman – $1000
22nd – Artur Demircham – $1000
23rd – Christopher Carey – $1000
24th – Rudy Melendrez – $1000
25th – Kris Hawkins – $1000
26th – Edward Duncan – $1000
27th – David Thomas – $1000
28th – Ronald Medaris – $1000
29th – Nadine Savage – $1000
30th – Mario Ray Barrera – $750
31st – David Hass – $750
32nd – Bryan Pierce – $750
33rd – Eidan Bereby – $750
34th – Paul Lui – $750
35th – James Vi – $750
36th – Mike Yocoubian – $750
37th – Faraz Jaka – $750
38th – Farman Khaligh – $750
39th – Sudhakar Vundavali – $750
40th – Wang Yuan – $750

Players have their second shot at reaching Day 2 today at Noon when cards hit the felt for Day 1B. Even though they already have their return seat in July the players who survived Day 1A can return today or any of the future Day 1s to try and best their stack. If they happen to do so they will carry their best stack forward to Day 2 along with receive the minimum payout when their smaller stack(s) is removed.

Day 1B begins at 12:00 noon today with late registration open until about 4:30 pm PT. Day 1C will wrap up the opening portion of this years WPT500 tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12:00 noon. Check out the full schedule under the Tournament Information Tab.