The first of three starting days for the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off in Las Vegas Monday with 925 hopefuls registering – up from last year’s 795 Day 1A entries.
The start comes at the end of a month of WSOP tournaments that has so far seen over 60 gold bracelets awarded, with over 90,000 total entries and more than $129 million in prize money paid out.
To accommodate massively increased television and live streaming international coverage there will by no two-day break this year; once the starting day survivors combine into a single field the action will run without a full day off until a champion emerges.
WSOP spokesman Seth Palansky explained:
“We are going to reach the final table of nine players on July 11. We will play a three-day final table, with the expectation being that we will play from nine to six on the first night, six to three the next night, and then down to a champion on the 14th.”
Among the high profile characters in Las Vegas for the Main Event is John Hesp, the popular English grandad and caravan salesman who became famous last year for his positive demeanour and unusually colourful jackets. He finished fourth in the 2017 main event, taking home a $2,6 million prize, and his exploits are about to be made into a film.
Also in town again is last year’s personable Main Event champ Scott Blumstein and another former Main Event winner Jerry Yang, both of whom were active on the first day of play. Blumstein had the honour making the “shuffle up and deal” call. Unfortunately he did not last beyond the third level, and was eliminated by Brian Yoon.
UPDATE:
At the end of the flight’s five, two-hour levels, only 656 players remained, led by Timothy Lau on 338,700 chips. Other top players who made it through the day included Kevin Boudreau, Daniel Fuhs, Jake Schindler, Owen Crowe, Seth Davies, Gordon Vayo, Lexy Gavin, 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem, Bruno Fitoussi and Matt Waxman.
On the other side of the coin, notable names who fell during the day were: Jonathan Little, Chance Kornuth, Brian Rast, 2016 Main Event champion Qui Nguyen, and 2007 Main Event champion Jerry Yang.