Menny Ben-Haim Chip Leader After WPTDeepStacks Brussels Main Event Day 1A

After 13 levels of play it is Menny Ben-Haim who is the chip leader of the 36 players advancing to Day 2 of the WPTDeepStacks Brussels Main Event. Ben-Haim holds 221,000 chips and is one of only four players over the 200,000 mark.

The others are Thierry Gogniat (214,000), Leonardo Armino (207,000) and Silma Macalou (203,000).

With a late start time of 16:00, players had plenty of time to enjoy the sights of this beautiful and historic European capital, however by the time play got underway there were a whole host of names seated.

WPTDS Valkenburg runner-up Tobias Peters, along with fellow Dutchmen Govert Metaal and Paul Gresel were present, along with home interest in Bart Lybaert, Arne Marinus and Cheng Wei Yin, among others.

As the day progressed, bigger names joined the field including WPTDeepStacks North America Player of the Year leader Rex Clinkscales, and the popular Brazilian pro Felipe Ramos. Clinkscales sadly would bust before the end of the day, but Ramos will be taking forward a stack of just over 60,000 to Day 2.

“It’s bad,” said an unusually quiet Ramos at the end of play, “I felt like I should have had a lot more chips. There should have been lots of opportunities to chip up and when that doesn’t happen it’s not very good.”

Other WPTDeepStacks regulars include Brian Reinert, who made the trip from the United States especially for this trip, as well as Pedro Cairat, who ran deep in WPTDS Marrakech.

Reinert said that despite losing one big hand late in the day, he’s looking forward to not having to play in tomorrow’s flights.

“My stack is good for tomorrow; it’s about 30 big blinds. Now I get to go and see the city. I definitely didn’t want to have to play tomorrow!”

Tomorrow sees not one, but two flights. Firstly at 14:00 there is Day 1B, with the usual 40-minute levels, but later at 22:00 there is a special Turbo Day 1C with 20-minute levels.

Stay tuned to WPT.com for all the action from the Grand Casino here in Brussels.