Ready . . . Break
Day 1d was expected to be the biggest of all four starting days, and that certainly seems to be the case. Both the Amazon and Pavilion Rooms are jammed pack, and the field appears to have surpassed expectations. While we won’t know the official numbers and prize pool information until later tonight, it appears all the worries that this year’s Main Event would draw subpar numbers was nothing more than hysterics.
With all that said, we’ve reached the end of Level 1 which means players are now on their first 20-minute break of the day. While the blinds (50/100) are quite small compared to the starting stack of 30,000, that didn’t mean the action was any less fierce, as Prahlad Friedman found out just minutes into Day 1d when he lost all but 3,150 of his stack when he turned a set of sixes against the straight of Frank Jordan. The river blanked and Friedman was crippled; however, he has managed to survive the first level.
Day 1d has also brought out some of the best in the game. John Juanda, Phil Laak, Daniel Alaei, Darvin Moon, Tom Marchese, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Dwyte Pilgrim, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Barry Greenstein, Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Rousso, and even rap superstar Nelly.
In addition, former WSOP Main Event Champs Huck Seed (1996), Robert Varkonyi (2002), and Jamie Gold (2006) have all entered the field in the hopes of capturing their second world championship title.
The players will be back in 20 minutes as they are slated to play another four levels here on Day 1d.