When viewers across the United States tune into ESPN tonight, they’ll witness the first of 18 hours of coverage from the World Series of Poker Main Event. The massive tournament began on July 3rd from the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The final table will play out in November. There were 6,844 entrants in the 2008 Main Event, making the $10,000 buy-in tournament the second largest ever in WSOP history. Traditionally, ESPN has dedicated one week of WSOP coverage to each of the four starting days, although it remains to be seen if that trend will continue on Tuesday night.
Day 1A of the 2008 WSOP Main Event marked the first day of play for Shannon Shorr, Chau Giang, Eric Froehlich, WPT Legends of Poker winner Kevin Saul, Noah Boeken, Aaron Been, Young Phan, and Bill Gazes. Scotty Nguyen also starts his quest for his sixth bracelet. Nguyen took down the $50,000 HORSE event that aired two weeks ago on ESPN. In that tournament, the Prince of Poker was potentially inebriated, swearing at the Harrah’s staff members and degrading the game of poker.
Also in the field on Day 1A was Dan Harrington. Donning his signature green baseball cap, Harrington represents one of the most accomplished players on the poker circuit today. He won the Main Event in 1995 and finished 17th in 1996. He also made the final table of the world’s largest poker tournament in 1987 and 2004, bringing his career WSOP earnings to over $3.4 million. Harrington also won the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker event in 2007, cashing for $1.6 million.
Another player who may be featured on Tuesday night is Lyle Berman, the co-founder of the World Poker Tour. Without Berman, one wonders whether poker would be as popular as it is today. Berman is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner who won his first in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Omaha event during the 1989 WSOP. He took down a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament in 1992 and also emerged victorious in a $5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball event in 1994. Of his 15 WSOP cashes, 14 of them are final table appearances, which is amazing considering the large and talented tournament fields that characterize the World Series of Poker.
In the red-colored section on Day 1A of the WSOP were Jimmy Fricke, Gavin Smith, “ER” star Mekhi Phifer, Nick Schulman, Steve Sung, Chad Brown, and Mike Sowers. Also in attendance were Mark Vos, Jason Lester, Matt Glantz, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, EPT Monte Carlo winner Jeff “Yellowsub” Williams, CardRunners instructor Andrew Wiggins, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Ulliott is the namesake of Devilfish Poker, which has marketed aggressively in recent weeks in celebration of the “Devilympics.”
Another familiar face who is sure to be featured on ESPN is actor Ray Romano. He starred in 210 episodes of the hit television show “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which filmed its last new episode in 2005. He provided the voice of Manny in “Ice Age” and “Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.” He’s also been featured on “The Simpsons” and hosted “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.
Finally, another face in the crowd on Day 1A was Bobby Baldwin. He’s one of the original godfathers of poker. Baldwin has served as the CEO of several large gaming corporations and is currently the President of the City Center project in Las Vegas. He’s the owner of four WSOP bracelets, including one for winning the Main Event in 1978. Baldwin has not cashed in a WSOP event since 1994.
The first player busted out of the Main Event about 20 minutes into play. He held pocket aces against Rocco Lazazzaro’s pocket jacks. The aces held until the river, when the dealer flipped over a jack.
Here is a look at the television schedule leading up to the final table of the Main Event two months from now. All times are Eastern:
September 2nd to September 30th: 8:00pm to 10:00pm
October 7th to October 28th: 9:00pm to 11:00pm
November 4th at 9:00pm: WSOP main event final table preview show
November 11th at 9:00pm: WSOP main event final table