Several familiar faces over here in the Orange section, including Barry Greenstein, Anna Wroblewski, Perry Friedman, Jason Gray, Roland de Wolfe, Jimmy Tran, Jon "Pearljammer" Turner, Jeremy Ausmus, Jason Gray, and Perry Friedman.
And at one table are seated "Miami" John Cernuto, Thierry van den Berg, Roy "the Oracle" Winston, and Matt Stout. Not only are those four at a single table, they are sitting consecutively in seats 4-7.
Michael Craig opened for a 300 raise and David "Devilfish" Ulliott called from the cutoff. The flop was . Craig bet 450 and Devilfish called. The turn was the . Craig checked, Devilfish bet 1,000 and Craig called. The river was the . Craig fired out 1,500 and Devilfish gave it up.
After the hand, Craig was up to 22,000 while Devilfish slipped to 17,200.
Resplendent in a blue button-down shirt with "ITALIA Poker Team" inscribed on the back is Luca Pagano. Also seated today in the Green section are Shawn Rice and John Monnette.
Another player we've spotted in today's field is last year's WSOP Main Event runner-up Tuan Lam.
Lam has had twelve months to think about that final hand where he looked set to double up with top pair, only to lose to the running straight of Jerry Yang.
Lam has been quiet on the poker scene since last year's result, but will be looking to go one place better this time around!
Dustin Dirksen got a bit frisky in late position in a recent hand. With 1,750 in the pot preflop, Dirksen bet 450 on a flop of against two opponents, both of whom called. When the hit the turn, Dirksen checked to an opponent behind him, who bet 1,400. Dirksen was the only caller.
Dirksen checked again when the river bricked. His opponent bet 2,000 and Dirksen called. His opponent showed for a turned straight, but Dirksen turned a bigger straight with . He's up to 25,000 in chips.
There are a few other familiar faces in the Red section of the Amazon Room besides Josh Arieh. They include: Vanessa Selbst, Dustin Dirksen, Adam Katz, David Pham and Kido Pham, actor Ray Romano and Raymond Rahme.
Paul Wasicka is representing on Day 1a. He sits in the orange section along with a who's who of other notables including:
Susie Isaacs, Lee Markholt, Jonathan Little, Ted Lawson, Tim West, Jordan Morgan, James Mackey, Joe Sebok, Joe Beevers, John Gale, Phil Galfond and Bobby Baldwin.