The $1k No Limit Holdem events that have taken place over the last few years at the World Series of Poker have been a barometer of sorts for overall WSOP attendance, as well as a way to measure the future of poker –considering players usually start their pro careers playing $1k tournaments before moving up to the bigger $5k and $10k events.

This year a total of 2,116 players registered for Day 1a of the $1k NLHE tournament, which bodes well for the tournament since Day 1b usually sees higher registration numbers. Last year’s $1k saw a total of 4,345 players register; a number that is well within reach when Sunday’s numbers are added to the tally.

Amongst the 312 players who will return for Day 2 on Monday were a number of recognizable names in the poker world, perhaps none more so than 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel who ended the day in 4th place with 45,000 chips.

Joining Duhamel in the Top 10 are Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Dan Shak, and Dutch pro Steven van Zadelhoff. A little farther down the leader-board are names like Alexander Kravchenko, Casey Jarzabek, Eric Mizrachi, 2008 WSOP Champion Jerry Yang, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Chad Brown, 2002 WSOP Champion Robert Varkonyi, Dan Heimiller, and Brock Parker, all of whom have over 10k in chips.

Here is a look at the top chip counts at the end of Day 1a:

1. Albert Kim — 74,675

2. Ana Marquez — 60,000

3. Kenny Nguyen — 50,000

4. Jonathan Duhamel — 45,525

5. Shane Schleger — 41,300

6. Dan Shak — 39,125

7. David Chicotsky — 38,725

8. Bryn Kenney — 35,000

9. Christopher Perez — 34,000

10. Steven van Zadelhoff — 33,000

Results courtesy of wsop.com

Tags: 10k Events, 2002 Wsop, Alexander Kravchenko, Brock Parker, Chad Brown, Christopher Perez, Dan Shak, Jerry Yang, Kenny Nguyen, Mizrachi, Poker World, Recognizable Names, Registration Numbers, Robert Varkonyi, Shane Schleger, Timoshenko, World Series of Poker, WSOP Main Event, Wsop Main Event Champion, Yevgeniy

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 5th, 2011 at 8:45 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.