The Main Event will no doubt have major implications on the 2011 World Series of Poker Player-of-the-Year Race, so we thought it'd be a good idea to show you the current leaderboard (just in case you want to keep an eye on some of the front runners).
We've just taken a quick scan around the Orange section, and it's pretty well scattered with notables. Most notable is the fact that we have a couple of former Main Event final tablists with us over here. In 2006, Mike Binger finished in third place overall behind Paul Wasicka and Jamie Gold, good enough for a score of more than $4 million for Binger. (Incidentally, brother Nick just one-upped him this week by winning the family's first bracelet.)
Two years later, the November Nine was formed, and Ivan Demidov was one of the inaugural members. He made it all the way to heads-up before falling to Peter Eastage, a feat that earned him more than $5.8 million. Demidov is here in our section today, too.
Joe Cada took the title the next year, besting Darvin Moon heads-up. Moon is one of those hard-to-describe characters in the poker world, and he's made his return to the WSOP today in the Orange section as well.
We're also privileged to have a 2010 November Niner in our area as John Dolan, the sixth-place finisher, is here.
Still some empty seats, but a quick pass through the Black section here in the Pavilion Room at the start of play reveals a number of familiar folks seated and ready for action.
Holly Madison, Jack Effel, and Phil Hellmuth jointly give the Shuffle Up and Deal
Tournament Director Jack Effel gave the daily announcements here on the bracelet stage in the Pavilion Room. Among the highlights was Phil Gordon presenting Phil Hellmuth with an award for biggest contributor to Bad Beat on Cancer during the 2011 WSOP.
When presented with the award, Hellmuth deadpanned, "I finally won something." The entire room seemed to know Hellmuth finished runner up three times this year, so the joke got a pretty good laugh. After that, Hellmuth was joined by Holly Madison, of Playboy, "The Girls Next Door," and "Peepshow" fame, and they jointly gave the ceremonial "Shuffle up and deal!"
With that, the cards are in the air and Day 1d is officially underway.
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