World Series of Poker Day 1 recap
World Series of Poker Day 1 recap: Casino Employees and $50k Championship
The World Series of Poker has come a long way since Benny Binion invited six of the most formidable poker players to battle it out in his casino for the title of Best Poker Player in the World. The current incarnation of the WSOP has more events –57—than the 1979 Main Event had entrants in the Main Event –54!
Play got underway at the 2010 WSOP yesterday, with an event full of no-name hopefuls, followed by a tournament where the buy-in eclipses many people’s yearly salary, entered by the most recognizable players in the poker world.
Event 1: $500 Casino Employee Tournament
Day 1 of the 2010 WSOP featured the $500 buy-in Casino Employees event –a staple at the WSOP, and the tournament that usually kicks off the tournament series—as well as the $50k Players Championship which was switched from HORSE to an 8-Game Mix for 2010.
In the $500 Casino Employees tournament 722 players put-up the $500 for the shot at a WSOP bracelet, and possibly to propel themselves from making a living dealing cards to playing cards! At the conclusion of play 53 players were remaining, and will return to crown a champion today. Still in the hunt is tournament director extraordinaire Jack McClelland who is clinging to a 15,000 chip stack.
The tournament will get underway at 2:30pm local time and is in level 9 with 500/1000 blinds and a 100 chip ante.
Event 2: $50k Players Championship
In the $50k Players Championship over $5.5 million is up for grabs as 116 players decided to test their poker skills against the best players in the world. At the conclusion of play 110 players remained in contention for the $1.55 million first place prize –only 16 players will make the money for the event.
The 6 players already sent packing include Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, Dan Shak, Greg Mueller, Andrew Brown, and Marc Karam. At the top of the leaderboard is Erik Sagstrom with 339k chips, followed closely by David Oppenheim with 313k. Miami John Cernuto continues his impressive 2010 campaign and is currently sitting in 3rd place, but there is still a lot of poker to be played in this one!
The entire field is made up of big-name Poker Pros from both online poker and live poker.
The players are currently in level 5 of the event –Triple Draw 2-7– and play will resume later today. The Players Championship is slated to be a 4-day event.
Stay tuned to Ruff Poker for the latest updates and breaking news from the 2010 World Series of Poker!
