2008 World Series of Poker

39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event
Day: 5
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Event Info

2008 World Series of Poker

Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Entries
6,844
Players Left
9
Next Payout
Place 9
$900,670
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
30,000

Thank Goodness for the Color-up

[user40108]
[user40108]
The Buy-Ins of Dozens of Players
The Buy-Ins of Dozens of Players
As we admire the enormous chip stacks of players like Mark Vos, Tiffany Michelle, and current chip leader Mark Ketteringham, it's interesting to think that they could have been a whole lot bigger.

On Day 1, these players each started with 20,000 in tournament chips which were a total of 29 "actual" chips in front of them. The chip denominations were as follows:

Two orange (T5,000)
Seven yellow (T1,000)
Four light blue (T500)
Eight black (T100)
Eight green (T25)

There have been a total of three color-ups or "race-offs" thus far in the event, during which the green, black, and light blue chips were taken out of play and replaced with larger denomination chips.

Currently, the largest chip in play is the dark green (T25,000.) In the later stages of the tournament a T50,000, T100,000, and for the first time ever, a T250,000 chip will be introduced. There are three more color-ups remaining, the next one scheduled for the completion of level 24 early tomorrow afternoon.

While somewhat trivial, it's interesting to note that if there were no color-ups, there would be roughly 2,420 (over 24 racks) individual chips in front of each player in the tournament right now. If that weren't insane enough, when play reached the final table, each player would sit behind an average of 22,052 (220 racks) individual chips making play physically impossible.