Mike Sexton
Mike Sexton opened for a raise on the button and everyone folded. He won a small pot, which could be an omen for the rest of today and the tournament. In a big field like this many of the old school pros avoid playing large pots early in the Main Event. They are unwilling to commit all of their chips in the early stages.
As Phil Hellmuth once said, "Small pot poker. That's Phil Hellmuth poker.'
1978 WSOP Champion Bobby Baldwin is starting off his 2007 Main Event today. 2003 Champion Chris Moneymaker is also in the house, though he is not playing Day 1A. Instead, he's spending the early afternoon relaxing in a NLHE cash game.
In a sea of homegame heroes, weekend warriors, online qualifiers and satellite winners we've thus far spotted pros John D'Agostino, Mickey Appleman, Doug Lee, Joe Awada, Minh Ly, Dewey Tomko, Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Peter Daljuisen, and Perry Friedman.
The remaining players in the room let out a collective sigh of relief as they discovered that they were not the first player to bust out of the WSOP Main Event.
The first player to bustout was Matt Jansen. His lost to Geroge Dolofam's . All the money went in on the flop of .
"No more hearts!" screamed Dolofam.
The turn was the and the river was the . His flush held up as Jansen was the first player eliminated from the 2007 WSOP.
Amarillo Slim
There are many known players and celebrities in the field today. Some include:
Kirk Acevedo (from the HBO's Band of Brothers, Oz)
Allen Kessler
David Grey
Sherkhan Farnood
Amarillo Slim Preston
Huck Seed
Dan Shak
Terrence Chan
Billy Baxter
Tom "Donkey Bomber" Schneider
Tom "Donkey Bomber" Schneider is playing on Day 1A. Schneider won two WSOP events in 2007 (Event #46 $1,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 and Event #5 $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud 8) and is 2007's WSOP Player of the Year. He has an interesting starting table with Gene Todd and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
The words that everyone has been waiting to hear, Shuffle Up and Deal, have been announced. Cards are in the air and Day 1A of the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event is underway!
Jeffrey Pollack introduced tournament director Jack Effel who welcomed all of the main event players. He briefly went over the rules, with emphasis on the following three...
1. You must be at your seat before the last card is dealt, otherwise you will have a dead hand.
2. You cannot be on a cellphone or text messaging when the first card is dealt. If you are, you're hand is declared dead.
3. You cannot put chips in your pockets or conceal them anyway or take them off the tournament floor, they will be taken out of play.