The tournament staff had a bit more to do to prepare for Day 1C than the two previous starting days. Registration showed a jump that could exceed 1,000 more players than 1A or 1B, meaning not only the Amazon Room had to be readied for a full crowd, but the Pavilion Ballroom was prepped for a solid showing as well. Dealers were in uniform, floor staff had a plan for breaking tables and moving players, and all were ready to handle the masses.
The 2010 World Series of Poker completed its first 56 events, and July 5 brought the Main Event, otherwise known as the $10K buy-in no-limit holdem championship tournament that would wrap the entire summer of tournaments. There were a total of four starting days, and Wednesday, July 7 was the third. The big dance was in full swing, and the DJ was playing the third set for players just arriving at the party.
The numbers were taking several hours to compile each day, but with almost double the field on 1C, it took longer to get the final numbers. After Day 1A’s registration number of 1,489 and Day 1B’s total of 2,614 players, rumors swirled that the Day 1C number would certainly surpass the previous days. And it did. There were 2,314 reported entries on the third starting day, making the three-day total 6,417 players. With Day 1D looking to provide the biggest turnout thus far, the number of entrants will be far over expectations.
Some of the faces in the crowd in addition to the plethora of poker pros that were expected included Anthrax guitarist and sponsored UB pro Scott Ian, celebrity Shanna Moakler, and international cricket legend Shane Warne. Also among the masses were several former WSOP Main Event champions, including Johnny Chan, Joe Cada, Carlos Mortensen, Jerry Yang, Phil Hellmuth, and Tom McEvoy.
As was inevitable, many well-known poker players didn’t make it through the day’s action, and among them were Dario Minieri, Huck Seed, Alex Outhred, the aforementioned Hellmuth and Yang, Steven Begleiter, Men Nguyen, Neil Channing, Chad Brown, Tom Dwan, Chau Giang, Jeff Madsen, Ian, and Moakler.
When the day ended before midnight, there were reportedly 1,489 players still in the field. The top ten chip counts were listed as follows:
| Mathieu Sauriol | 169,900 |
| Johnny Chan | 163,700 |
| Andrew Liporace | 155,350 |
| Josef Monro | 153,350 |
| Lauren Kling | 149,650 |
| Barny Boatman | 144,050 |
| Steven Goosen | 142,925 |
| Michael Reed | 142,125 |
| Sean Prendiville | 140,500 |
| Benjamin Blair | 137,200 |