The Tourney Journey Begins Today... Day 1a Awaits!
The dealers are finding their tables. "Viva Las Vegas" is playing over the public address system. Tourney staff is pacing to and fro, readying for the players' entry. It's time! The big one is here! It's Event No. 58, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship, a.k.a. the Main Event!
It has already been an amazing summer, with many weeks' worth of exciting prelims capped off by last night's thrilling conclusion to the $50K Poker Player's Championship. Brian Rast claimed his second WSOP bracelet of the summer, defeating Phil Hellmuth heads up to deny the Poker Brat his 12th bracelet -- Hellmuth's third runner-up finish of the Series!
With his victory, Rast claimed one of the most coveted bracelets on offer at the WSOP. But there's one bracelet that all players -- from the top pros to the shot-taking amateurs -- covet most of all, the one awarded to the winner of the WSOP Main Event.
As in past years, those entering will be taking their pick of four different Day Ones. And after a summer of surprising numbers at the WSOP -- with increased field sizes throughout -- much attention will be given to the turnout for this year's Main Event and how it compares to the 7,319 who entered last year. As we all remember, Jonathan Duhamel of Canada bested that field, claiming $8,944,310 worth of the almost $68.8 million prize pool for doing so.
Players will play five 120-minute levels today. Survivors from these first four Day Ones will then play through a couple of Day Twos, then combine together on Thursday, July 14 -- one week from today -- from Day Three forward.
The first hands are scheduled to be dealt at noon Vegas time. See you here then for start-to-finish coverage of all the action here at PokerNews!