Earlier in the summer, Kimberly Kilroy sat down to play in the 2013 WSOP Seniors Championship on a bit of a lark, having cashed in just a few small tournaments throughout her life. Despite her relative inexperience, Kilroy made a very deep run to finish in 16th place, and her $25,027 score was by far the biggest of her brief dalliance with poker. Kilroy also ended up as the last lady standing from a field of 4,407 runners, giving her a special distinction to remember in addition to the experience of a lifetime.
Kilroy has decided to put some of that prize money to use here today, as she can be found in the Amazon Room's Purple section competing on this Day 1b of the Main Event. We will let you know if Kilroy is able to build a stack as she did throughout the Seniors Championship, as she tries to surpass her best ever finish to cap a summer to remember.
Here are a list of a few of the notables faces in the Purple Section of the Amazon Room. There are plenty of empty seats, and we'll keep you posted as to who trickles in throughout the early part of the day.
WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart just gave a welcome speech and talked about World Series of Poker legend Doyle Brunson. Stewart then revealed a bust of the ten-time WSOP bracelet winner that was recently commissioned.
"Think of it as the first step in a more tangible Poker Hall of Fame," Stewart said as the room cheered. Stewart then indicated that he had a seat card for "Texas Dolly" in today's field even though Brunson had indicated earlier in the summer that he wouldn't be playing any events.
He changed his mind and played the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship, so here's hoping he gives it one more go in another WSOP Main Event.
Welcome back for round two of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event. Today is the second starting flight of three — Day 1b — and it plans to be even bigger and better than the first.
On Day 1a, 943 players found their way to the felt, but only 584 of them survived the first five levels of competition. Leading the way was Evan Panesis, who bagged up a hefty 190,975 in chips. He's trailed closely by Nick Crisp (184,075), Abdulaziz Almashal (180,575), Sergio Castelluccio (175,825) and Michael Wehner (170,325), to round out the top five.
Plenty of eyes were fixated on Greg Merson on Saturday, as he made his way back into the Rio for his Main Event title defense. Last year, Merson topped a field of 6,598 players to win $8,531,853 in this event. This year, he's off to a fast start, having worked his 30,000-chip starting stack up to 81,650 to finish out the day. Like all the other survivors from Day 1a's play, Merson will have two days off and then return Tuesday at 12 p.m. to get back into action.
Other notables advancing from Day 1a were Joe Cada, Tony Dunst, Ronnie Bardah, Rep Porter, John Hennigan, Scott Fischman and Olivier Busquet.
It is very much expected that today's field will easily surpass the 1,000-player mark. In the 2012 WSOP Main Event, Day 1a had 1,066 players, Day 1b had 2,114 players, and Day 1c had 3,418 players. The Day 1c field set the record for the largest one-day Main Event field in history.
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