We have been told that there are 421 entrants in the Day 1a flight. This number is not official but we wanted to give you an idea of the field size. Please note that last year's Main Event drew 480 players - a mark that's certain to be broken.
WSOP Circuit Event #3 $555 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em at Harrah’s Tunica saw Drew Mcilvain, a 23-year-old food and beverage manager from Temecula, CA, beat out 229 opponents to claim the 1st-place prize of $27,552.
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500+$55 | 230 | $111,550 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Mcilvain | Brentwood, TN | $27,552 |
| 2 | Justice Litle | Reno, NV | $17,028 |
| 3 | Caufman Talley | Lafayette, LA | $12,393 |
| 4 | Patricia Till | Avon, IN | $9,165 |
| 5 | Chris Sebeny | Bloomington, IL | $6,884 |
| 6 | Richard Holliday | Lawrenceville, GA | $5,251 |
| 7 | Michael Schneider | Covington, GA | $4,066 |
| 8 | Houston White | Madison, TN | $3,196 |
| 9 | Michael Kaczmarek | Concord, NC | $2,549 |
We've spotted former NBA player Earl Barron in the field. In actuality, he was pretty easy to spot - he stands seven feet tall. He has a few WSOP cashes on his resume and a 4th place finish at the 2010 Gold Strike World Poker Open where he pocketed $33,896 for his effort.
Barron was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and played his college ball at the nearby University of Memphis. He has spent time with six different NBA teams, including earning a NBA Championship ring with the Miami Heat in 2006.
Level: 6
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 25
We're not sure how it happened, but we do know that Eric Crain has been eliminated from the tournament; however, he'll be back in just a few hours. According to his Twitter:
"Out of flight 1. Had straight freerolled by same straight + flush draw. Flush got there. Flight 2 at 7pm."
With about 9,000 in the pot and a board reading 
, Huy Nguyen fired out 6,000 from middle position, which Kurt Jewell called from the button. Nguyen confidently rolled over 
for a straight, and Jewell simply mucked.
Round 1 to Nguyen.
Traci Brown raised to 500 from the hijack and received a call from the player in the hijack. The rest of the field got out of the way and it was heads up to the 
flop. Brown wasted little time in betting another 500, which was enough to get the hijack to fold. Brown graciously flashed the 
.
button in Safari
