We are about a half-hour away from the scheduled start time for Event No. 3, the first of several $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em events this summer. Today will see the first of two day ones, and all are anticipating an enormous field -- perhaps one of the largest of all of the events in this year's WSOP.
Last year's Event No. 4 -- won by Steve Sung -- was the only open $1,000 buy-in event of the WSOP, and it drew a whopping 6,012 runners. Early indications are we'll see at least that many come out over today and tomorrow to take their shot in this one.
We'll be back at noon local time or shortly thereafter to bring you all of the action.
We've said it before and we'll most likely say it again before this whole shebang is done with, but the Pavilion Room - well, it's just huge. It's massive. You could park five or six 747s in here, by our reckoning, and still have room to swing a fairly sizable cat.
Players are filtering in at the moment, and it looks as though we could be starting roughly on time. Please stand by.
Tournament director Mr. Jack Effel has been and gone on the mic, the bracelets have been revealed from behind a curtain with a theatrical flourish, and last year's Main Event champion Joe Cada has been honored in front of a gigantic banner showing him wielding fistfuls of dollars.
Furthermore, a treat for the assembled poker players, as Matt Goss, formerly of British teeny-bopping sensation Bros and currently of a show at Caesars Palace, sang the national anthem.
And now, there is nothing left but to play some cards.
Players are starting in both the Pavilion and Amazon rooms today. We're into our first few hands over here in the Amazon. After months of waiting, players are ready for action. Indeed, at least one is done with all the waiting around, as we just heard a call of the clock already.
it looks like we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 tables’ worth of players here in the Amazon, with most seats filled. A quick initial pass among the nearest tables reveals a few familiar faces -- Vanessa Rousso, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Blair Hinkle. We’ll continue surveying the scene and tell you who else is seated over here shortly.
So before we'd even had a chance to do a full circuit of the Pavilion Room, we witnessed one unfortunate gentleman's tournament come to an abrupt end.
Whatever the unlucky player was holding, it couldn't beat Matt Vance's straight on the board and he exited with a sigh. "You weren't the first one out," commiserated Vance; we can neither confirm nor deny his assertion at this time. Nevertheless Vance is off to a good start on 6,000.
"And then there were seven," said the dealer, perhaps a little heartlessly.
Michael Craig is here, looking sharp after winning a weight bet prior to this year’s Series. Other familiar folks over here in the Amazon include Tony Ma, Chris Moneymaker, John Myung, Nenad Medic, Keven Stammen, Mike Sica, Dan Shak, and J.J. Liu.
Following a flop, Blair Hinkle bet 225 from middle position, and his opponent in the cutoff called. The turn was the . This time Hinkle bet 500, and again his opponent stuck around.
The river brought the . Hinkle checked, and his opponent shoved all in for 1,375. Hinkle tanked, then let it go. He’s down to 2,200 from the 3,000-chip starting stack.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
straight on the 
board and he exited with a sigh. "You weren't the first one out," commiserated Vance; we can neither confirm nor deny his assertion at this time. Nevertheless Vance is off to a good start on 6,000.
flop, Blair Hinkle bet 225 from middle position, and his opponent in the cutoff called. The turn was the 
. This time Hinkle bet 500, and again his opponent stuck around.
. Hinkle checked, and his opponent shoved all in for 1,375. Hinkle tanked, then let it go. He’s down to 2,200 from the 3,000-chip starting stack.