Welcome to the Hammond Main Event!
Welcome to the Horseshoe Casino here in Hammond, Indiana! For the past week, the World Series of Poker Circuit has been hosting a series of tournaments here in the riverboat's gigantic theater hall, which will culminate today with Day 1a of the $1,600 Main Event. The stop has already proven a huge success, with the first event ($340 No Limit Hold'em) drawing a staggering 3,001 players. That created a prize pool of $873,291, with a cool $124,438 being awarded to the winner, Aaron Bieck of Plymouth, Wisconsin. In addition, former November Niner Dennis Phillips earned his first piece of WSOP gold by capturing a ring in today's early morning hours. Phillips outlasted 118 players and captured the $55K first-place prize.
Today, we're expecting a huge turnout for Day 1a. We've already heard mumblings among the players that if they bust today, they have every intention of re-entering on Day 1b. All signs suggest that we'll beat last year's field of 872 players, if not blow it out of the water. Joining the field will be a laundry list of poker pros including Phillips, Owais Ahmed, Josh Brikis, Chris Tryba, Mark Kroon, and Kathy Liebert.
Action is set to get underway in about a half an hour, so join us then for all the latest and greatest action from the WSOP-Circuit Hammond.