Today’s Format

As per 2009 World Series of Poker regulations, players are starting with three times as many chips as the buy-in, which means for this event they are starting with a record-setting 150,000 chips! While this is more than last year’s 100,000 start bank, the first level from last year (300/600) has been removed and we’ll be commencing play today at 400/800.

Levels will be 90-minutes in duration, with breaks scheduled after every level. The plan today will be to play six levels before we bag and tag for the day.

Last year we saw eight eliminations on the first day of play – perhaps eight more than we expected. One of those eliminations was 11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who commented, “I didn't think it was possible to go out of this (tournament) on Day 1...I like to do things that are tough to do."

With such a huge start bank you would think it would be almost impossible to bust today, but crazier things have happened!