Johnny Chan raised to 800 from the button, Chris Bell called from the small blind and Huckleberry Seed called from the big blind. Bell drew one, Seed drew two, and Chan drew one. Post-draw it was checked to Chan who bet 1,600, Bell folded and Seed called. Chan showed 2-6-7-9-T but Seed had the better hand with 2-3-6-8-T and dragged the pot.
Chris Bell raised to 800 pre-draw, Huckleberry Seed called and Ted Forrest called. Seed drew one, Forrest drew two, and Bell drew one. Forrest led for 2,000 after the draw, Bell folded and Seed called. Forrest showed 2-3-5-6-8 and took it down.
Bob Stupak raised to 600 from the cutoff, Tom Schneider called from the small blind, Gavin Smith re-raised to 2,400 from the big blind, Stupak called and Schneider folded. Smith and Stupak each drew one. Smith led for 5,600 post-draw and Stupak folded.
John Juanda raised to 600 pre-draw, Howard Lederer called and Patrick White called. Each player drew one, and all three checked after the draw. Lederer showed a pair of threes, White showed an even worse pair of sevens and Juanda mucked.
It is rumored that Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, and Mike Sexton have made some high-stakes "team" bets on the side. Each player takes 9-10 players in the field and there are bets paid out to whomever's "horses" make the final table and an even larger payout if one of their players wins the bracelet.
A coin toss determined who got to pick first. Chip Reese won the toss and his first draft pick was none other than the Lowball King, Billy Baxter. Baxter has won this event an unprecidented five times-- in 1975, 1978, 1982, 1987 and 1993-- and made the final table in it on three other occasions, finishing 2nd in 1989, 5th in 1992, and 3rd in 2003.
After the draw, Chip Reese bet 4,000, his opponent raised all in for over 20,000 and Reese called. He showed 2-3-5-7-8 and took down the pot, increasing his stack to 31,000.
Players are not allowed to rebuy in cash. They can use the Rio's chips to rebuy or, oddly enough, Bellagio chips. A number of players have $5,000 Bellagio chips stacked at the ready for rebuys.