The butterflies have dissipated and the players have settled in. Now it’s time to play some poker. The final starting flight of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is complete and while the money bubble is barely a blip on the radar, players can stop worrying about surviving the first day and start thinking about moving up on the leaderboard. Already making some hay on Day 1C was Randy Haddox, who came close to becoming just the second player in the Main Event to finish the first day with over 200,000 chips, falling just short with 188,275. William John remains the overall chip leader with 266,700.
Author’s note: We had originally written that Jason Laso was the Day 1C chip leader. After the article was posted, Laso, who goes by the screenname “Mkind16” online, posted on PocketFives.com that he added a “2” to the front of his chip count on his chip bag at the end of the night just so that it would be incorrectly reported and his mom would get to see his name in news reports. He only has around 40,000 chips.
Day 1C was expected to be the largest of the starting flights and it most definitely was. The 3,418 player field was larger the both of the previous days combined and became the most populous single-day starting field in Main Event history. The overall total of 6,598 players is the smallest since 2009, but it still makes this the fifth largest WSOP Main Event of all time, behind 2006 (8,773), 2010 (7,319), 2011 (6,865), and 2008 (6,844).
With six percent of each $10,000 buy-in taken out for entry fees and tournament staff, the prize pool is set at $62,021,200. The eventual champion will win $8,527,982. Though the field is the fifth largest of all time, this first prize is just the sixth largest because of a flattening of the prize structure put into place a few years ago. A total of 666 players will get paid (that seems like an ominous sign). Here is a look at the entire prize schedule:
1st – $8,527,982
2nd – $5,292,889
3rd – $3,797,558
4th – $2,850,494
5th – $2,154,616
6th – $1,640,461
7th – $1,257,790
8th – $971,252
9th – $754,798
10th-12th – $590,442
13th-15th – $465,159
16th-18th – $369,026
19th-27th – $294,601
28th-36th – $236,921
37th-45th – $191,646
46th-54th – $156,293
55th-63rd – $128,384
64th-72nd – $106,056
73rd-81st – $88,070
82nd-90th – $73,805
91st-99th – $62,021
100th-162nd – $52,718
163rd-234th – $44,655
235th-306th – $38,453
307th-378th – $32,871
379th-450th – $28,530
451st-522nd – $24,808
523rd-594th – $21,707
595th-666th – $19,227
A number of former Main Event champions made it through Day 1C to play again Wednesday, including Joe Cada (117,375 chips), Juan Carlos Mortensen (89,125), Johnny Chan (82,300), the legend Doyle Brunson (81,400), Jamie Gold (24,800), and Tom McEvoy (24,125). Other notables in the upper portions of the Day 1C chips standings are Brad Booth (146,025), Sorel Mizzi (110,975), Farzad Bonyadi (106,625), Fabrice Soulier (105,225), and Antonio Esfandiari (78,925), who is still likely riding a high from his $18 million Big One for One Drop victory. Phil Ivey, who currently sits atop the WSOP Player of the Year points race is hanging on by a thread with just 11,525 chips.
Meeting their demise Monday were such names as 2010 Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, Matt Waxman, Chino Rheem, Olivier Busquet, Jonathan Little, Andrew Robl, David “Bakes” Baker, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith.
Tuesday’s action will see the survivors from Days 1A and 1B play in separate rooms, while those who made it out of Day 1C will return to play on Wednesday.
2012 World Series of Poker Main Event – Day 1C Chip Leaders
1. Randy Haddox – 188,275
2. Erik Hellman – 175,950
3. Marco Bognanni – 169,600
4. Daniel Morgan – 160,025
5. Mathias Maasberg – 159,150
6. Anthony Guetti – 158,775
7. Joonhee Yea – 157,175
8. Max Ovseyevitz – 156,300
9. Dag Martin Mikkelsen – 155,900
10. Paul McTaggart – 155,475
2012 World Series of Poker Main Event – Overall Chip Leaders
1. William John – 266,700
2. Randy Haddox – 188,275
3. John Hoang – 180,000
4. Erik Hellman – 175,950
5. James Schafer – 171,250
6. Marco Bognanni – 169,600
7. Vanessa Selbst – 168,350
8. Gerardo Lubas, 165,825
9. Daniel Strelitz, 164,125
10. Jeff Beckley – 158,550