Monday saw 2,031 survivors of the $10 000 buy-in World Series of Poker main event’s Day 1a and Day 1c flights come together to battle through the first flight of Day 2 action in Las Vegas. Many celebrities and international poker aces were among the crowds packed into the various Rio Resort venues when Day 2a action started just after noon Vegas time.
Among those with ambitions for the almost $65 million main event prize pool, and possibly the $8.71 million first prize, were overall chip leader at that stage Fred Berger, who emerged after Day 1a with the top chip count of all four Day 1 flights of 209,500 – a 600 percent increase in his starting stack.
Other notable names taking their seats were Sebastian Ruthenberg, Ted Forrest, Olivier Busquet, JP Kelly, Humberto Brenes, Annette Obrestad, Josh Brikis, actor Jason Alexander, Marsha Wolak, Johnny Chan, Minh Nguyen, Lee Childs, Arnaud Mattern, Daniel Negreanu, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Lex Veldhuis, Jon Turner, Filippo Candio, Vince Van Patten, Neil Channing, Antonin Teisseire, Ville Wahlbeck, Dan Shak, Gavin Smith, Marcel Luske, Gavin Griffin, Scotty Nguyen, Victoria Coren and Vitaly Lunkin…but there were many, many more stellar players.
Notably absent was 11 WSOP bracelet champion Phil Hellmuth, who made the remarkably unprofessional mistake of getting his starting days in the $10 000 buy-in event mixed up, arriving almost two hours late to find that his stack had already been blinded off by 50 percent!
He did, however, get down to business almost immediately, rebuilding some of his depleted stack and staying in the course for the day.
A surprising casualty early Monday evening was 2010 WSOP main event champ Jonathan Duhamel from Canada. He wasn’t the only one, as Mark Vos, Daniel Cates, Filippo Candio, Basketball ace Paul Pierce, Wendeen Eoils and Lex Veldhuis all saw their dreams of victory dashed.
By late Monday night barely half the field was still in action, according to unaudited numbers at that point.
The officials called it a day in the early hours of Tuesday morning at level 10, with Aleksandr Mozhnyakov claiming the chip lead on 478,600.
Despite his late start, Hellmuth survived the day and even managed to grind his chip stack to 64,900.
Also surviving were Daniel Negreanu, ex-NFL player Eric Stocz and actor-comedians Jason Alexander (167,000) and Brad Garrett (56,000).
There are still star players in contention with significant chip stacks like Mike Sowers, Guillaume Darcourt, Massimiliano Martinez, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Max Weinberg, Wesley Pantling, Day 1 overall chip leader Fred Berger, Adam Junglen, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Shannon Shorr and Christophe de Meulder.
Tuesday midday Vegas time will see a larger field of 2,490 – the survivors of Days 1b and 1d – assembling to compete in the second Day 2 flight, and the survivors from that will join the remaining Day 2 a players in a combined field going into Day 3 Wednesday.
Official numbers indicate that just 3,481 contestants remained on the books for this event by the close of Day 2a action. Given an overall registration field of 6865 recorded for the main event, that suggests that around 991 players survived Day 2a’s action, with 2,490 still set to play in Day 2b.
Impressive stats
Caesar’s Entertainment, the organisers of the World Series of Poker, released some impressive general statistics on the competition this week, reporting that this 42nd annual World Series of Poker had established a host of new records as poker enthusiasts from more than 100 nations traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the game?s grandest spectacle:
* The WSOP remained the industry standard-bearer, with a record 75,672 entries in 58 events creating the largest prize pool in WSOP history: $191,999,010.
* The new all-time high in entrants surpassed by 3.7 percent the previous record of 72,966 set last year; this year?s record prize pool eclipsed the previous high of $187,109,850 set in 2010 by 2.6 percent.
* For the seventh consecutive year, the WSOP generated a total prize pool well in excess of $100 million.
* In the 42-year history of the WSOP, the prestigious tournament has now awarded more than $1.4 billion in prize money ($1,420,374,131)
* Among the notable non-poker playing celebrities competing during this year?s WSOP are Jason Alexander, Nelly, Ray Romano, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, Shane Warne, Paul Pierce, Shawn Marion, Petter Northug, David Lee, Phil Kessel, Jeff Fenech, Patrick Bruel and Brad Garrett.
* The youngest player in this year?s WSOP was Logan Deen, from Cocoa, Florida who played Day 1-B of the Main Event on the day of his 21st birthday ? and he did survive the day.
* The oldest player to participate in this year?s WSOP was Shaun Deeb’s 91-year-old grandmother Ellen Deeb, who played Day 1-C of the Main Event, but didn?t make it through.
* Many within the poker community speculated that participation in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold?em World Championship ? commonly referred to as the Main Event ? would suffer this year, however it remained right in line with where it has averaged the last five years (6,753).
* The 2011 WSOP Main Event attracted its third-largest field ever, with 6,865 participants. As a result, the prize pool for the 2011 Main Event alone stands at $64,531,000 million, with the winner?s share amounting to $8,711,956.
* New records were established for:
Most million-dollar tournaments: Forty-six of 58 events in this year?s WSOP boasted a prize pool of $1 million or more, up from 44 events set last year.
Largest Seniors event in history: Event 30 attracted 3,752 players, eclipsing by 19 percent the previous record of 3,142 set last year. Year-over-year event prize money was up nearly 15 percent from last year, jumping from $2,827,800 to $3,376,800.
Biggest single day attendance ever: 3,752 players in Event 30 ($1,000 buy-in).
Biggest single day attendance ever for $1,500 buy-in event: 3,389 players in Event 56
Most consecutive annual WSOPs played: Howard ?Tahoe? Andrew of Walnut Creek, Calif., extended his record for most consecutive years played at the WSOP: 38.
Most cashes at WSOP without a win: Tony Cousineau of Daytona Beach, Fla., extended his record as the player with the most cashes ? 49 ? without a win.
All-time Cashes and Final Tables: Phil Hellmuth added to his record as the individual all-time leader in cashes (84) and final table appearances (43).
Biggest Heads-Up tournament prize pool in history ($3,040,000) ? Event 2
Largest live Omaha High-Low Split Tournament in history (925 entries) ? Event 3
Largest live Six-Handed tournament in poker history (1,920 entries) ? Event 10
Biggest Deuce-to-Seven tournament prize pool in history ($1,184,400) ? Event 16
Largest live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold?em tournament in history with single day start (3157 entries) ? Event 18
Largest live $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold?em tournament in history with single day start (3175 entries) ? Event 20
Largest live Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in poker history (1,071 entries) ? Event 22
Largest Mixed-Game (Eight-Game Mix) in poker history (489 entries) ? Event 23
Biggest Seniors No-Limit Hold?em championship prize pool in history ($3,376,800) ? Event 30
Largest Mixed Pot-Limit tournament in history (606 entries) ? Event 39
Biggest Pot-Limit Omaha prize pool in live poker history ($3,393,400) ? Event 42
Largest live $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold?em tournament in history with single day start (3,389 entries) ? Event 56 (broke earlier series record for Event 18)
World Series of Poker Executive Director Ty Stewart summed up the series thus far, saying: “This summer underscores the appeal of the game and the power of this event. We’re so thankful for all those who came from around the world to demonstrate that poker continues to grow.”