Poker : Wsop Main Event Day 1 C

2,314 sign up for third Main Event heat

The third (Day 1c) heat for event 57, the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em competition that is the main event of the World Series of Poker attracted the biggest field yet Thursday as 2,314 hopefuls signed up to play.

The signups bring the total number of players registered in the first three days to 4,928, with one more heat – Day 1d – still to be held. The current record for registrations at a WSOP Main Event is 8,773, set in 2006.

Last year’s champion Joe Cada made the shuffle and deal call for the day, immediately getting down to business himself.

11-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth chose Day 1c to make his now traditional fancy-dress grand entrance, this time masquerading as an MMA fighter with all the attendant hoopla. Unfortunately it did not stand him in good stead as he was eliminated in the poker action during the day.

Another big name casualty was Tom Dwan, who lost out on his last chance this year to win his first bracelet, and in the process reportedly saved many side-betters a bundle of money.

Day 1c saw a host of top players entering the venue, notably Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Tom Dwan and his Challenge opponent Patrik Antonius, David Williams, Barny Boatman, Johnny Chan and Huck Seed.

The latter was just one of many poker aces to bite the dust during the day in a list that included Howard Lederer, David Benefield, Steven Begleiter, Ayaz Mahmood, Men Nguyen, Jerry Yang, Faraz Jaka, Dario Minieri, Jeff Madsen, Isabelle Mercier, Bill Gazes, Neil Channing, Chau Giang, Jeff Madsen and David Benefield.

Once level 5 was reached late night Thursday, tournament officials called it a rap and the 1,674 survivors of the day bagged up their chips. Leading the field was Mathiu Sauriol on 168,900, with former main event champion Johnny Chan his nearest opponent on 163,700.

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