$50K Poker Players Championship Sees Benny Glaser Bags Second Highest Stack

The unique excitement of entering poker's most prestigious mixed-game tournament is a feeling few events can replicate. 

Day 1 of Event #60: $50,000 Poker Players Championship is officially complete at Paris Las Vegas, where 87 of the world's most talented poker players paid a buy-in just shy of the median American salary. The elite field competed across nine different poker variants throughout the opening session.

By the end of the night, only 66 players remained in contention for the coveted Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, which is widely considered the most prestigious prize in the sport.

After six levels of play, Matt Glantz finished at the top of the leaderboard. Glantz built significant momentum after winning a gigantic Pot-Limit Omaha hand that resulted in the elimination of Scott Seiver, allowing him to bag an impressive 989,000 chips.

Following closely in second place is UK standout and eight-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser, who locked up a stack of 826,000 chips. Welshman Robert Wells rounds out the top three podium spots, advancing to the next stage with 790,000 chips.

The action commenced in the opening level with 38 players taking their seats. The early stages featured a notable altercation between poker star Daniel Negreanu and Chris Brewer during a hand of No-Limit Hold'em.

In the hand, Negreanu executed a preflop squeeze against an initial open and a call. He proceeded to lead the betting across all three streets on a board of king-jack-eight-deuce-seven. 

After a flush completed on the turn, Brewer raised the river. Negreanu ultimately paid off his opponent, and Brewer revealed a turned flush. As a result of the encounter, Negreanu quickly lost eighty percent of his starting stack.

As the evening progressed, the field began to thin. The first official wave of eliminations saw several prominent players removed from the tournament throughout the day, including:

The attendance and survival rates from this opening flight drew remarkable parallels to the previous year's tournament numbers. 

In last year's edition of the event, 88 players entered on Day 1 out of an eventual 107 total entries, and 66 players successfully advanced to Day 2. 

This year's opening flight followed an eerily similar pattern, starting with 87 players and concluding with exactly 66 players surviving the day's action.