Doyle Brunson Breezes Through WSOP Main Event Opening Day as Mustafa Kanit Bags Chip Lead

Image courtesy of PokerGO.com

The 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off yesterday, with the legendary Doyle Brunson and 1983 champ Tom McEvoy among those who made it through the opening flight of the iconic event...

It was far from being the biggest entry for an opening flight of the Main Event, only 523 players showing up and paying the $10k buy-in, but there were some real stars in the mix.

Veteran actor and poker fan, James Woods, moved on to day 2 after bagging almost 100k in chips, while Jason Koon also made it through but with much the same stack as he started the day with.

Seven-time WSOP bracelet winner, Billy Baxter, joined those who will be coming back for their day2 on November 9th, with Kelly Minkin and Johnnie Moreno also making it through.

As we reported elsewhere, Moreno, aka “Johnnie Vibes”, had his day interrupted by a police takedown of a man who police had chased into the parking lot of the Rio, resulting in a 2-hour lockdown.

Just saw a guy with a WSOP lanyard get tackled by 5 undercover on break of WSOP main event. The placed him under arrest and emptied his pockets. No idea if he was staff or why they arrested him. Intense.

— Johnnie VIBΞS (@JohnnieVibes) November 5, 2021

Meanwhile, Doyle Brunson, at 88-years-old likely to be the oldest competitor at this year’s Main Event, was merrily doubling his stack and more.

The same couldn’t be said for last year’s winner, Damian Salas, who was unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament after losing most of his chips to a rivered full house against his nut flush.

The chip lead for the opening flight of six day 1s at the Rio went to Italian pro, Mustafa Kanit. The highstakes crusher started strongly and built his stack to over 360k.

Day 1a Chip Counts

♠ ♣ ♥ ♦

We will bring you a round-up of the latest news, views, and results from the WSOP Main Event each and every day, so be sure to check in regularly!