PokerWorks

I knew it was a bad sign when they let the players in and only 5-6 tables in the Red section had tournament players taking seats in them. This meant that Brasilia would not be used and that at best there would be 900-1,000 players playing today. This puts the Main Event well behind the pace set the last two years and it's looking like we will have our lowest turn out since 2005. The next two days will still be extremely busy, but 7,000 is definitely out the door and we'll be lucky if we surpass 6,500.

Jack Effel did the normal pre-tournament rules and instructions and then went into his best sales pitch for Jack's Links by mentioning the four jacks promo that they had. Sounding like one of those late night infomercial voice overs, Effel said, “Players, if you get four jacks, you'll win an outstanding package from Jack's Links valued at over $100.”

I waited for him to go, “But wait there's more, in addition we'll toss in this handy dandy Everest Poker seat cushion and a $10 food comp.”

Chris Moneymaker brought up a good point. What if the board had four jacks on it, would every one still in the hand after the river get the gift package? The answer was yes. Odds of that happening though are slim and none, but funny to think about regardless.

For the 4th of July, they played the national anthem and the entire room (well almost the entire room) stood up to honor the United States including many foreign players and members of the press. It was the quietest I'd ever heard the Amazon Room during the anthem. Normally you can hear chips being riffled and some players talking to one another, but other than the music playing it was dead silent.

Doyle Brunson was introduced for the shuffle up and deal announcement and he received a nice round of applause before getting the tournament underway.

Speaking of dead (no, not Doyle, I'm talking about the dead silent moment I mentioned right before that)... that's kind of how this day has gone so far. It is without question, one of the most uneventful (thus far) day 1's I have ever seen. First, there aren't a lot of big names playing. They have Matusow on the feature table and Doyle on the secondary feature table. There are a few name pro's here and there but the field reminds me more of a $1,500 donkament than the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.

I know the majority of players are waiting for tomorrow and Monday... at least that is what everyone keeps saying. Time will tell if that is truly the case. I figured there would be more people playing on a Saturday, but I guess with it being the 4th of July that most people are waiting until the last moment. There are also mega-sats still being run around the clock and will be up to the very beginning of day 1D.

One of the girls that works for ESPN sits down next to me and is talking to Benjo, one of the media members that sits in the media row. We've talked before so I get into the conversation with her. We're talking about Facebook so I go to add her as a friend. While we were talking about her job and how she got into doing it she tells me that her dad wishes she was playing more poker. I know her first name so I type it in the search box and ask her what her last name is. She says, “Deeb,” and I jokingly reply, “Related to Freddie?”

She laughs and says, “That's my Dad.”

Ummmm, oops. Talk about a small world (and shows you how clueless I am sometimes). I look at her again and instantly see the resemblance. Funny that I never knew that before and had seen her around the WSOP for the better part of two years.

It took all of five minutes for a player to bust. Normally, when you see a bust out that quick it's a monster like a set vs. set type of hand. This one was two pair vs a straight. Sorry, but if there's three to a straight on the board, there is no way you should go broke with two pair. That's one of the good things about the Main Event though. Anyone with $10,000 can enter. Hands like this make it apparent by anyone, they mean ANYone.

Players are about to go on their dinner break. Hopefully they don't eat too much because they might all fall asleep at their table afterwards if they do. I'll be back later with the after dinner action. Until then...