Over 40 hours of poker were played before Day 1 of the World Series of Poker officially came to a close. When all was said and done 6,844 players registered to play in this year’s Main Event. While it does not exceed the record set in 2006, it does beat last year’s field of 6,358. Players were crammed in every corner of the Rio in order to accommodate what was the largest of the Day 1 fields. Over 2,000 players filled up three rooms in the Rio Convention Center, tables set up in front of the Buzios seafood restaurant, and even ten tables in the Rio Poker Room, which is a good 15 minute walk away from the Amazon Room.
After the rush of players settled down in their seats and play was underway, World Series of Poker staff announced the official payouts. A somewhat eerie 666 players will make the money in the event, with first place earning $9,119,517. The top eight players will all be instant millionaires after the final table is played out in November and 9th place will take home $900,670.
One would think it would be difficult to stand out in such a crowd, but a couple of notable pros went out of their way to make their presence known. Phil Hellmuth arrived late for Day 1 of play as usual and pulled up to the Rio in a full-on army tank. Decked out in “Ultimate Bet” Army gear, ‘General’ Hellmuth entered with an army of players and made his way to the ESPN Feature Table where he was seated along with Ultimate Fighting Champion Chuck Liddell. While Liddell was eliminated midway through the day, Hellmuth managed to survive Day 1 with 78,900 chips. Another Phil, Phil Ivey, was at the secondary feature table, but didn’t last long and was eliminated within the first three levels of play.
Our discussion of Phils would not be complete without a mention of Phil Laak, who was the talk of Day 1D, even though no one knew he was there until the day was basically over. The media was at a loss as to Laak’s whereabouts when his assigned seat was occupied not by Phil, but by an elderly gentleman. Towards the end of the day a sleuth reporter began to put the pieces together regarding the case of the missing Phil. Turns out Laak was in extensive prosthetic make-up, complete with a large scar, and played in virtual silence the entire day. The reasons behind the make-up remain unknown, but this may mark the first time in a few years that Laak played in a poker tournament completely unnoticed. It remains to be seen whether or not Laak will be incognito for Day 2.
By the end of the day, over 1,200 players survived to Day 2B, which is looking like it is going to be another packed house. Leading the chip counts was Steve Austin with 149,000, but several known players are hot on his heels including Victor Ramdin (124,600), David Oppenheim (114,400), Carlos Mortensen (109,825), and Gus Hansen (102,900).
Many other pros were much less successful today and saw their Main Event come to an early conclusion. After attempting a big bluff early on unsuccessfully, Annie Duke was left with 6,000 and was subsequently eliminated a few hands later. Joining her on the rail were Andy Bloch, last year’s WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider, Dario Minieri, Doyle Brunson, and Layne Flack.
Last year’s champion Jerry Yang is still in the running to take down the Main Event once again, but he will have a lot of work to do during Day 2. Yang got off to a rough start and spent the majority of Day 1 fighting a short stack. He managed to end the day with 30,350, which is above the 20,000 starting stack, but also below the average stack size which is closer to 40,000.