World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1c is in the books as the largest amount of players to turn up in a single day (3,418) showed. It meant the total number at this year’s Main Event capped off at an impressive 6,598 and guaranteed a prize pool of $62,021,200 and a first prize of $8,527,982 – something that Day 1c leader Randy Haddox (188,275) put himself in sight of with an impressive opening day’s play.
It was the big names that had their moment in the Vegas sun on day 1c though. First off there were the six former Main Event champions that made it through. Chief among these is Joe Cada, who kept up his solid year with a stack of 117,375. Cada is joined by Johnny Chan (82,300), Doyle Brunson (81,400), Jamie Gold (24,800) and Tom McEvoy (24,125) with all of them advancing alongside him. That’s not all though.
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, playing in his first WSOP Main Event, is sitting pretty with 110,225 chips and will resume the day with a real chance of staying in the mix come the end of day 2. Phil Ivey is still knocking about, albeit with a chip count of just 11,525, and Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari is in search of another payday with a strong 78,925 chips.
Bodog pro Jay Tan is another that will join the ranks on day 2 after her first Main Event went swimmingly. She tweeted: “yay! #wsopME Day 2 here I come! Bagged up a cute 58,925 yummy chippies. Still a long journey at least a good start!” She returns on Wednesday with CalvinAyre.com’s very own Tatjana Pasalic starts her day 2 on Tuesday.
Among the players to be eliminated were former Main Event winners Chris Moneymaker and Jonathan Duhamel as well as Thor Hansen, Lex Veldhuis, Andrew Robl, David “Bakes” Baker, Chino Reem and Nacho Barbero.
HIGH ROLLER DOWN UNDER
There is speculation flying around that next year’s World Series of Poker Asia Pacific will include a $500k Super High Roller event. Richard Yong, an Asian businessman, let it slip in PokerNews’ All Mucked Column following his own exit from the Big One for One Drop event. When asked about his plans for the near future, he commented: “I like the high stakes. The WSOP APAC (Asia Pacific) of next year in Melbourne will have a $500k buy in tournament with one re-entry. It will (be) better for players because no tax like in U.S”. The WSOP APAC is set for April 4-15 2013 and will take place in Melbourne, Australia.
DICK HEADS
Lastly, more details have emerged about the circumstances surrounding Sam Trickett’s unfortunate comeuppance at the hands of some heavy’s last week. The runner up in the Big One for One Drop event told PokerStrategy the disagreement rose from a load of guys trying to pile into his limo. Trickett was obviously perturbed at this and asked them what they were doing. Whilst this was happening the sneaky lads tried to chat up his girlfriend which ended up with one of them spitting in her face. He obviously decided to defend her honour for which he got a kicking from who were, in the words of Trickett, “clearly a bunch of dickheads”. Couldn’t have summed it up better.
Find more on WSOP and CalvinAyre.com’s Poker month coverage.
