771 players – a lower turnout than last year – turned out for the Day 1a, the first of three entry flights for the $10,000 buy-in 2014 World Series of Poker main event, which concluded over the weekend with retired chef and Swedish pro Martin Jacobson in the lead on 200,100 chips, more than 40,000 ahead of nearest rival Aaron Wilt.
Although smaller than last year, the field contained a host of major names in the game, including five former WSOP champions in Ryan Riess, Greg Merson, Chris Moneymaker, Tom McEvoy and Johnny Chan, all of whom survived and are among the 505 who move on to Day 2a.
Other notable names to advance included Mukul Pahuja, Layne Flack, Antonio Esfandiari and Annette Obrestad..
The day proved disappointing for professional players who were eliminated early, such as Phil Laak, Mustapha Kanit, Bruno Fitoussi, Eric Froelich, Jeff Gross, Jason Mercier, David Chiu and Jean-Robert Bellande.
When we went to press the Day 1b flight was in full swing after television star and World Series of Poker regular, Ray Romano gave the ‘shuffle up and deal” call.
Unofficial figures put the entry field for Day 1b at 2,144 players, and reports from WSOP indicate that entries for Day 1c – the last of the entry flights – have already soared past 3,000.
Seen taking their seats were former WSOP champs like Huck Seed and Dan Harrington, along with a strong female contingent of respected players like Lauren Kling, Sofia Lovgren, Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, Erika Sands, Melissa Burr, Allyn Shulman, Amanda Baker and Ana Marquez.
Brian Hastings, Chris Moorman, Bertrand Grospellier, Philippe Gruissem, Max Silver, Erik Seidel, Brandon Shack-Harris and Sorel Mizzi were also spotted by big-name fans.