Day 1d of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em is over now. A total of 2,809 players signed up and played while only 1,816 survived to advance on to Day 2 play. So... a total of 6,494 players entered the WSOP Main Event this year. This number might have swelled according to a number of reports had the Rio been able to accommodate additional players who showed up to play on this final Day 1 of the event. But every seat in the house was filled, and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack ultimately had to put his foot down and close registration, when they reached capacity. Read the article here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/wsop-day-1d-advance-sellout-leaves-hundreds-out-main-event-6908.htm. But the plain sad truth is that when players wait until the last minute there is a very real danger that they could be left on the outside, looking in. That was the case here. Ya snooze ya lose! Had the RIO and WSOP staff had prior commitments and $$$ in hand that players wanted to play, they might have been able to plan accordingly. But I agree with and support the decision which was finally reached to simply call it FULL and turn folks away. It might be the hard line, but it can and will be planned for in the future. It might also get a few players not to drag their feet in the future. I would support registration in advance... and being assigned randomly the day on which you play. Accommodation for day changes would be accomplished within reason and only on a first come first serve basis, but NEVER after the fact. Probably not necessarily an opinion that will be shared among the poker community, but hey it's my blog. Go get your own!
Back to the numbers... 6,494 players entered in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, which is down from the 2008 edition which hosted 6,844 players. 2007 was 6,358, and the record holder of 2006 still stands at 8,773. Arguably, the numbers from this year to last are down by 350 players. Top prize payout will be in the neighborhood of $8,548,435 (the % amount due to the November 9 delay notwithstanding.) That is down from the 2008 top spot of $9,152,416. BUT none of this points toward a "downturn" in poker. Sure we're down from last year and we haven't swelled to the 2006 glory year, BUT that was all pre UIGEA, Neteller, PartyPoker crackdown, and any number of other idiocies that have been thrown at the poker world. I'd say POKER is doing just fine, thank you very much. Take that and stick it in your bankroll! The toal prize pool for this year to be paid out to 648 players is still a whopping $61,043,600. Nothing to sneeze at!
Now, time for some comparisons... The chip leader of the Day 1D entrants, and frankly the overall leader at this point is Troy Weber with 353,000 in chips. Next closest is Tyson Marks (Day 1D too) with 196,500 in chips. In fact, the top four of Day 1D are out in front of the pack, until we come to the chip stack of Joe Cada on Day 1c. Day 1b game us Brandon Demes at 137,075, and 1a had Redmond Lee chime in at 134,275. You would have to go at least 20 players deep into the chip stacks for the Day 1D survivors to find sub 134k stacks. But what does it all really matter anyway... there's a helluva lot of poker yet to be played.
Recognizable names to have survived Day 1d, let's get to skimming the list: JC Tran, Josh Arieh (both in the top 20,) Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Dutch Boyd, Adam Schoenfeld, Tony Hachem, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Blair Hinkle, Nasr El Nasr, Antonio Esfandiari, Matthew Hilger, JC Alvarado, Bobby Baldwin, Cyndy Violette, Marco Traniello, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ping Chang Yung (just because that's a name that caught my eye,) Kenny Tran, Minh Nguyen, Jen Harman, Lee Markholt, Michael Mizrachi, Nam Le, Peter Eastgate, Max Pescatori, Jeff Shulman, Kathy Liebert, James McManus, Ville Wahlbeck, Bryan Devonshire, Chau Giang, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, Erick Lindgren, Humberto Brenes, and Vanessa Rousso. I believe in miracles, but several of those I mentioned (particularly after Kathy Liebert, are in 'shove' territory at this point.
Victims who fell on Day 1d: Victor Ramdin, Brock Parker, Clonie Gowen (i'm here for ya honey if u need that hug, like I offered last year,) Daniel Alaei, David Chiu, Jimmy Tran, Kristy Gazes, Leif Force, Lisa Hamilton, Robert Iler, Scott Ian, Shannon Elizabeth, Phil Gordon, James Mackey, Scott Freeman, Michael Binger, Ray Romano, Chip Jett, Scott Clements, Scott Fischman, Shawn Sheikhan, Mimi Tran, Shirley Rosario, Adam Friedman, Svetlana Gromenkova, Ivan Demidov, Jeff Madsen, Mark Seikf, Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond, Roy Winston, Huck Seed, Torrie Wilson, Lyle Berman, Scott Montgomery and Dario Minieri. Yes... yes... there were others and I'm sure some of 'em were even 'your' buddies but get your OWN! This blog's mine!
I'd like to see a list of "notables" who missed the boat (errr Main Event) by not getting registered in time, but that's all just hearsay and conjecture at this point. Anyway, HIGH NOON today, Day 2a of the Main Event will get started. The circus will continue!
Regards,
cheer_dad
P.S. Oh, I also wanted to mention the Ante Up For Africa charity tournament. Alex Bolotin won the top prize of $177,730, and donated half back to the charity as did nearly everyone who got paid in the event! 138 players ponied up the $5k entry, read more about it here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/alex-bolotin-captures-ante-up-for-africa-charity-win-6890.htm.
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