Obviously players are still streaming in, but one table has already emerged as particularly fearsome, boasting as it does right now Humberto Brenes, John Racener and Roland de Wolfe. Actually those are the only three players at that table at the moment. We can only imagine how the casual $5k six-max punter's heart might sink upon reaching his table and finding those three waiting for him there. Good luck!
To be honest, not that many. Almost fifteen minutes into the first level and many tables are playing heads up or three-way - a few just have a dealer and a single player, riffling chips, waiting for an opponent.
Nevertheless the field that has managed to make it here for the start is pretty stacked. So far we've spotted Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moorman, David Benyamine, Devilfish, Andy Black, Arnaud Mattern, Scotty Nguyen and Jennifer Tilly - to name but a few.
Right off the bat we've spotted a few familiar faces including Luke "IWEARGOGGLES" Staudenmaier, Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin, Barry Shulman, Chris Moorman, Brent Hanks, David "Raptor" Benefield, Matt Graham, Isaac Haxton and Shane "Shaniac" Schleger.
Good morning and welcome back to the Rio. The The near-endless vista of the Pavillion Room lies before us, and before long the tables - currently empty but for a dealer apiece - will be crammed with poker players.
Last year this event drew 928 runners and Matt Hawrilenko was the eventual victor. We fully expect him to be defending his title, and indeed we are expecting most of your favorite big-name pros to turn out for this one.
Play is due to start in around half an hour. Until then, sit tight.