Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy is in the field today, as is PokerRoad's Bart Hanson. Amnon Filippi and Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul are at the same table, as are Chad Brown and Michael Binger.
One wouldn't really expect to hear the phrase, "Seat open, 18!" within the first 25 minutes of today's event. However, that was just the case as a player was eliminated from the event and opted not to rebuy.
After shoving all his chips in preflop against a raise and a call, Raymer was called by a single opponent, who turned over pocket jacks. Raymer's pocket nines were crushed, and as the board failed to help by the river, Raymer added a rebuy to the tally.
The players at Sorel Mizzi's table are shoving all in practically every hand, often blind, and so far the cards are falling Mizzi's way. He won a big hand with 8-4 offsuit and has around 20,000 before him.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow just arrived to today's event to find himself seated at the same table as James "Mig.com" Mackey. Their table is directly behind Gavin Smith's, so their banter throughout this event should provide plenty of entertainment for those nearby.
Marco Johnson moved all in for 2,000 after three players limped. They all folded and Johnson showed . Johnson's online name is "CrazyMarco," though pushing limpers out of a pot with junk seems a perfectly rational thing to do.
A middle-position player led out preflop and Burt Boutin shoved all in. The middle-position player made the call and turned over pocket kings while Boutin showed pocket queens. Boutin failed to improve and added another rebuy to the prize pool.
On his blog today Daniel Negreanu said he'd be happy if he spent $8,000 on rebuys and had a 20,000 stack. Well, he's already in for a grand--he raised to 500, was called by the player on the button, and moved in after a flop. His opponent called and showed , while Negreanu tabled . The board ran out and Negreanu shouted, "Rebuy!!".
While the field may be notably smaller than Event #2, this $1,000 NL Hold'em rebuy tournament has a slew of professionals in attendance. Some of the professionals seen within the field thus far include Gavin Smith, James Mackey, T.J. Cloutier, Greg Raymer, Johnny Chan, Erick Lindgren, Thayer "Thay3r" Rasmussen, John "The Razor" Phan, Jeff Lisandro, Lee Watkinson, Dario Minieri, Ted Lawson, and Burt Boutin.