The $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event today is expected to have a record breaking number of players. The Rio has made accommodations for over 2,500 players and they will also seat alternates as space becomes available. The parking lot is full and lines are still out the door. See you here at noon for all the action!
Tournament Director Jack Effel yelled out, "Amy, write this down. All the supervisors are dealing today. John, Jimmy, and Howard are running the floor." As each floor supervisor takes their place in the box, the dealers erupt in applause.
The doors are open and players are roaming the room trying to find their seat and also looking around to see if there are any superstars. The noise level is increasing. Here we go!
After the announcement and cards begin to fly, it gets very quiet in the room. After a few dealers call out, "seat open," everyone gets a little more comfortable and the volume steadily begins to rise. Chips rattle, people begin to laugh and you can feel the energy. Gotta love it!
This is a huge field, spread across the entire Amazon room and in the Players Pavilion. It will probably take a few strolls through the expanse to know who of the notables are in the field today.
Seen so far: Evelyn Ng, John Gale, David Singer, John Juanda, James Mackey, Joe Sebok (who swears lives will be lost if he bubbles another final table), Vanessa Rousso, Karga Holt, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Gregory Grivas and Lee Watkinson.
Tom McEvoy, Adam Schoenfeld, Greg Mueller, Shannon Elizabeth, Brad Berman, Arnold Spee, Peter Feldman, Rene Angelil, David Redlin, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, and PokerNews' own, Justin Shronk.
Players that have saddled up to take part in the action out here in the Players Pavilion include Bill Chen, Barny Boatman, David Pham, Bryan Devonshire, Rafe Furst, Jennifer Tilly, Kathy Liebert, JC Tran, Michael Binger, Francois Saffiedine, Victor Ramdin, Perry Friedman, and a late-arriving Antonio Esfandiari are all in play out here.