World Series of Poker: Main Event, Day 1-A Report
The Main Event of the World Series of Poker got underway on the 5th of July, 2010 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada. The prestigious event always attracts a lot of players to come and compete in the tournament. However, due to the whopping size of the initial field, the players are divided into four pools to kick-off the tournament. For this reason, 5th July was considered as Day 1-A of the tournament. The next three days will be registered as Day 1-B, 1-C and 1-D. Players who survive Day 1-A and 1-B will then be merged together as they compete for Day 2-A and the players from the other two days will merge to play Day 2-B.
As Day 1-A drew to a close, the players that remained in the field felt a sense of accomplishment as the first stage was over. Starting with 30,000 chips each, 1,125 players started today and by the end of proceedings, 766 players were still in it. This meant a 68 percent survival rate on the first day which is a drop compared to last year when 73.5 percent of the players made it through. The players who remain on the field will now return on the 9th of July to try and progress their charge in Day 2-A.
The players went through four-and-a-half rounds on the opening day as the blinds went from 50/100 (small blind/big blind) to 150/300 and 25 ante by the end of the day. The blinds go up after every two hours as the players started play at around noon and finished at 11:30 p.m. including the regular breaks.
The chip leader is the 25-year-old Corwin Cole, a local resident of Las Vegas. He ended the day with 228,200 chips. The youngster already has money finishes in the last six WSOP events so it goes to show that this is not a mere fluke form him. Dwyen Ringbauer came in second and Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi made it to the third sport by making it an all-American top three so far. Michael Mizrachi will be pleased with his result as he recently took his first Gold Bracelet in the WSOP Poker Players Championship. Alongside this, he also has 19 more money finishes in WSOP events. He also won the Card Player Magazine’s poker player of the year in 2006 after finishing in the money on seven occasions in 2005 WSOP events alone. The 2003 Champion Chris Moneymaker also finished the day with more than 100,000 chips. Barry Shulman also finished well over the 100K mark after he looked to make it a double after winning the WSOP Europe Main Event last year.
Coincidently, his son Jeff finished fifth in the WSOP Main Event last year after making it to the final table. The most important player to leave the field was Greg Raymer, who was the 2004 Main Event Champion. This year, Raymer was the one who inaugurated the tournament and as the game would have it, he was one of the first ones to leave it as well. He called a top pair flush draw and was beaten by a three-of-a-kind which crippled him completely and he lost the remainder of his chips shortly afterwards.
Of the starting field of 1,125 players, 484 players still have 30,000 chips or more and will be hopeful to continue their run in the days to come and will have a realistic chance of finishing in the money. Of all the chip leaders since 2003, Joseph ‘Joe’ Cada is the only player to have won the tournament after being the chip leader on day 1. Off the 23 chip leaders since the start of the mega era, only 11 have finished in the money by the end of the event so it goes to show that making it through the first day is only the start of the journey. They will be required to come in again, stick to their game, tough it out till the end to win the most coveted prize in the sport - the World Champion of Poker.
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