Day 1C, the third of four starting days at the World Series of Poker's 2011 Main Event, brought 2,181 starters to the Rio. More than 1,000 players survived to go on to Day 2. Day 1C was the largest starting field by far: Day 1A - 897 players, Day 1B - 985 players. Day 1D is the final shot for all aspiring main event champions and the field is expected to be HUGE!
Over 6,000 players have already registered for the main event and a turbo mega-satellite is underway (start time 8 a.m.). Players can register up until the end of the second level of play - with the guesstimate being about 4:30 p.m. – for the main event. If you've been tossing a coin or simply tossing the idea around of taking a shot at entering poker's biggest show, there's still time to get there.
Two beloved celebrity poker players were onstage for the "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement that would start Day 1C's action. WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel stood beside Actor-comedians Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, along with former gold bracelet winner Annie Duke. The microphone was then sent to the new champion of the Food Network's "Cupcake Wars," who officially began the tournament.
Day 1C found 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker being eliminated, along with Ray Romano, David Singer, Jason Young, Steve Billirakis, Fabrice Soulier, David Benyamine, Robert Mizrachi, Karina Jett, Hoyt Corkins, and countless others that went by the wayside. Romano's counterpart Brad Garrett survived the day with a healthy stack of chips though.
On the flip side of the bust outs are the ones still in action and hoping to be the last player standing, one of those is defending world champion Jonathan Duhamel who made the cut. Well-known poker players that are returning for Day 2 are Ted Forrest, Humberto Brenes, J.P. Kelly, Gavin Smith, Phil Gordon, Marcel Luske, Mike Caro, Daniel Negreanu, and many more.
The official end-of-day chip count found Kevin Song with 163,325 but Fred Berger still leads from Day 1A with 209,500.
Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics hit the green felt for a quick run up to around 100,000 - near the top of the chip counts - but cooled off later in the day finishing the night with a very respectable chip stack of 63,750. Also in the field was former Olympic boxer Audley Harrison, Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne, Hungarian model Krisztina Polgar, and Ms. Ellen Deeb (a 91 year old woman). Survivors of the above list that made it late enough to bag chips were Brad Garrett and Audley Harrison.
Past Main Event champions were in the field too - Chris Moneymaker mentioned above - and the following all survived the day: Bobby Baldwin (27,500), Scotty Nguyen (48,325), Dan Harrington (42,300), Joe Cada (58,225), Jonathan Duhamel (41,150), and the Poker Brat himself (and Player of the Year leader), Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth comes back on day 2 with only 11,800 in chips.
The world's richest and most prestigious poker tournament continues at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. For a look at the full schedule, visit here.
The Main Event Championship will be televised by ESPN. Live coverage will start July 14th.