A field of almost two dozen players featured High Roller regulars, poker legends and some complete unknowns looking to come out on top in what promises to be one of the smallest bracelet fields of the summer.
Big Names and Unknowns in the Field
Phil Ivey, fresh from his runner-up finish in the $100,000 High Roller, was one of the players seated when cards were int he air and he was joined by the likes of defending champion Adrian Mateos, Alex Foxen, Chris Brewer, GGPoker Ambassador Jason Koon and Christoph Vogelsang.
Other players perhaps less familiar to poker fans included Masashi Oya, hotel magnate Nilesh Patel, business woman Kathy Lehne and Liron Shimon.
One of the first players seated was GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu who says that he was ready for some deepstacked poker right from the get-go.
"...people are going to be in the streets as they say!"
"This is a big one!" he told PokerNews "$250,000 and what's unique about it is that it's a really good structure, as opposed to some others for some reason. That means people are going to be in the streets as they say!
"Just really, really deepstacked poker right from the bat!"
Negreanu has a fairly good record when it comes to buy-ins of $250,000 and above, finishing second in the 2014 Big One for One Drop and also as runner-up in the c2018 Super High Roller Bowl for combined cashes of over $11 million.
He told PokerNews that his line on entries was 40 and that the field should be a good one.
"From what I've heard this is going to be a good turnout. I've heard there are some players from New York or wherever that maybe I've never seen before. The first guy that sat down I've never seen him before in my life!
"I'm looking right now and it's probably going to be a good one."
One player that he was certain to recognize was David Peters who also has a lengthy poker resume when it comes to high-stakes poker tournaments.
From Macau to Cyprus, South Korea to here in the United States, the four-time WSOP bracelet winner has a huge selection of cashes in $250,000+ tournaments, but says that even then an event like this makes him excited to play.
"There are a lot of great players [...] It should be a lot of fun!"
"There's definitely a little more excitement," he said. "A really big tournament like this, especially with it being a WSOP event. There are a lot of great players, a lot of people we don't get to play with that much. It should be a lot of fun."
While this event was always going to be on Peters' 2022 WSOP agenda, he says that this one definitely stood out to him from others.
"It's definitely the one I'm looking at the most when I'm looking at the schedule. The one I'm getting most excited for and trying to prepare the most for. It's definitely a special tournament."
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor.
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
