The Rio looks different today, almost sleepy and docile. Maybe that’s because yesterday was a record breaker as 3,467 players set a new single day attendance record for a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
That record breaker means we have 6,352 total entrants, a prize pool of $59,708,800 and a first prize worth $8,359,531. Day 1C was the day that most of the stars came out to play. Poker events are just like discos; it’s just far too uncool to turn up early. Some of the games elite feel that it is uncool to even turn up. Gus Hansen and Tom Dwan deciding that an empty chair would make better work of their $10k investment. Hansen’s empty chair ended the day with 17,975 chips and Dwan’s chair ended with 18,075. I always knew Dwan was a better player than Hansen.
Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari had more respect for the greatest poker competition in the world. All four took their seats and duly advanced into the next round. There was also a superstar of the world of football in the room. The Spanish and Barcelona center back, Gerard Pique, was in the field for the Day 1C action, and he too made his way into the draw for Day 2. It will be interesting to see what his coach, Tito Vilanova, says when Pique tells his him that he wants to skip work to play in the November Nine should the bearded youngster make it all of the way.
Mark Kroon was the player staring at most of the photo lenses as we entered the wee small hours. The American ending the day as the chip leader with 214,300 chips and that is a haul greater than the Day 1A chip leader Evan Panesis (190,975) and Day 2 chip leader Clement Tripodi (207,050). A few more stars shining in the Day 1C sky were Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi (176,100), Frederick Jensen (169,975), Josh Pollock (154,025), Joseph Cheong (143,375) and the tantalizing and tasty Tatjana Pasalic (24,575).
1,890 players have taken their seats on Day 2A: the survivors of the melee that was Day 1A and Day 1B. At the end of the first level of the day Sergio Castelluccio (245k) has a slight chip lead over Daniel Cates (215k). The 2003 Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker has been eliminated as has Faraz Jaka, Eugene Katchalov, Tristan Wade and Steve O’Dwyer.
