Assume I'm not the only one following this, so figured I'd start a thread where we can all mouth off about this year's Main Event.

Seeing as we're only three levels into Day 1a there aren't really any spoilers in here yet, but I figure there might be later. Hence the warning for those that want to wait for the TV coverage.

Been a few big names bust already, and apparently the unconfirmed numbers for today are slightly higher than last year's Day 1a.

So - trash talk away

I just looked on PokerNews Chip Count and I couldn't see Daniel Negreanu on the list. What's that about? Anyone know?

Ohh, I just found out about the Day 1 A,B,C,D thing. Nevermind that post haha. Hoping to see Daniel take him home the bracelet. Him, Scotty, or Paul Wasicka, but he ain't doing so swell right now.

Really suprised to see Benyamine and Eli Elezra out this early, especially Benyamine since he won a bracelet and it was looking like he was gonna go far.

Originally Posted by iMaGiN.

Really suprised to see Benyamine and Eli Elezra out this early, especially Benyamine since he won a bracelet and it was looking like he was gonna go far.

There's a story going around that Benyamine is soooooooo far up in cash games at the moment that playing in the Main Event would just waste time that he could spend playing for real amounts of money...

*shrugs*

Wow that's crazy, but the Main Event is about the Prestige, not as much about the money, atleast to the pros its not.

I'm doing my best to get in touch with my Harrah's PR contact to get me a press pass. If I do I'll try to get some inside stories and pics and share them here. Hopefully I get in touch with the guy tomorrow and will be able to attend on Monday!

So how'd you go icemonkey?

Day 1d underway now, Hellmuth has shown up in typical Hellmuth fashion, and it seems that Harrah's is just going to limp over the line with the total number of entries: first two days were way quiet, but today's a big field and they've got more entrants than last year.

Final numbers and the payouts got announced a few minutes ago, they finished up with 6844 runners. 666 will get paid (no joke) and first place will get a shade over $9 million.

Lots of big name bustouts over the past few days, some of the big stacks going into Day 2 will be Brandon Adams, Mark Vos, Robert Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren, David Singer, Evelyn Ng, Brad Booth and hundreds of people you've never heard of before.

Oh - and Jerry Yang's playing today. He almost managed to bust in the first level, and was still below the starting stack last I checked

Looks like some big names close to the top of the leaderboard playing on 1d including Johnny Chan, David Opponheim, Antonio Esfandiari, Carlos Mortenson, Victor Ramdin, among others.

Yang up to 41600 right now.

From PokerNews:

Beautiful Distractions

Karina Jett just stopped by Antonio Esfandiari's table to see her friend Heather Esquin. Not only did she say hello, but Jett thoroughly rubbed and squeezed Esquin's breasts. She claimed it was for good luck.

Esfandiari commented, "How are we as men supposed to concentrate with that going on?"

Jamie Gold busted out in the first 2 hours. LOL

Negreanu out too because he has no respect for amateurs. He had a set of 6's & called an all in who had a set of 9's. He said there was no way he could lay that hand down against an amateur. I respect the man as a player, but it seems that his ego gets in the way sometimes; not to the extent that Helmuth's does, but sometimes he's too confident.

This (lifted from PokerNews) is I think my favourite story of the Main Event so far - it even beats out Howard Lederer soulcrushing some clown on his table yesterday.

The Amazing Phil Laak

We've got to give some credit to one of our frequent Shoutbox posters, "fastasleep," for sparking the following investigation, as it looks like we've been duped by the very clever Phil Laak...

On our WSOP registration list for Day 1d, Phil was slated to be in Amazon Blue, Table 33, Seat 8. Our reporters then scanned the area and informed us that he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps an error with the registration list? No worries... it happens. He'll turn up eventually, right?

Hours had passed and there was still no sign of Laak when we noticed fastasleep's Shout Box post:

fastasleep [37 minutes ago]:
"Guys - what's up with Phil Laak....I read a news article that saud [sic] he showed up today with an altered appearance, courtesy of a latex mask, make-up, and a false mustache....? Did anyone get any pictures?"

To borrow one of Phil's most frequently used lines, "Sick... So sick."

At this point, we started doing some investigative reporting and spoke with a few players at the table who'd been there all day.

"Was Phil Laak in the eight seat to start the day?" we asked Alejandro Parada and Cary Anderson.

"Never," said Parada. "That guy was old and he never said a word."

"The guy in that seat came in late, but he was real old. I watch that show I Bet You all the time and I'm sure it wasn't Laak," said Anderson.

A brief discussion ensued at the table and soon thereafter, Anderson altered his original supposition:

"You know, the more I think about it, the guy had a big scar... like a big worm. He wore a Texas hat, but I think he was older. I don't know -- it's possible, I guess," he added.

Moments later, Anderson put the pieces of the puzzle together, giving us the following explanation (paraphrased):

"You know, the guy did come in late and when the dealer asked for his ID, he didn't have any. They then called the floor over and the man in question had a quick discussion with the floorperson away from the table before eventually returning to his seat. 'He's OK,' said the floorman to the table and the player took his seat without saying a single word."

The conversation sparked whispers and "What-ifs" amongst the remaining players on Table 33 and suddenly, the mystery was solved...

The dealer at the table had been sifting through the registration cards of fallen victims amidst the commotion and then he found it... Amazon Blue 33, Seat 8 -- Phil Laak.

Needless to say, we missed his bust-out hand.

A clever stunt made for TV? Perhaps... An "I Bet You" prop bet with Antonio Esfandiari? Certainly plausible.... Being Phil Laak and playing an entire Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event incognito? Ab-so-freakin-lutely awesome.

Mr. Phil Laak . . . PokerNews salutes you!

Photo here: http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/564...aklatexzl1.jpg

^LOL, thats all i can say for that

All four days of day one is over. Attendance is up to 8000+, the second biggest crowd ever.

Some names that are already out include:
Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott
Berry Johnston
Josh Arieh
Joe Sebok
Gavin Smith
Chad Brown
Dan Harrington
Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld)
Katja Thater
Eli Elezra
Freddy Deeb
David Benyamine
Humberto Brenes
Tom McEvoy
Orel Hershiser
Jamie Gold
Greg Raymer
Kenny Tran
Dewey Tomko
Scott Fischman
Daniel Negreanu
Ted Forrest
Sam Farha
TJ Cloutier
JC Tran
Mike Sexton
Huckleberry Seed
Larry Flynt
Robert Williamson III
Doyle Brunson
Cyndy Violette
Layne Flack
Michael Mizrachi
Todd Brunson
Dario Minieri
Chris Ferguson
John Phan
Phil Ivey
Jennifer Tilly
Andy Bloch
Jose Canseco
Annie Duke

Chip leader is Henning Granstad

Originally Posted by glworden

All four days of day one is over. Attendance is up to 8000+, the second biggest crowd ever.

6844 is the official figure.

Welp, not much of a surprise but I lost my $4 I had on Ivey making the final table at 80-1 odds.

i wonder how alex kravchenko is doing or if he even played in this years main event?

Originally Posted by wayschaff

i wonder how alex kravchenko is doing or if he even played in this years main event?

he was doing well last i saw

I guess that Brian Scheiedlich is the big spoiler right now. He won his seat at a WSOP satellite at my local casino. I played against him several times and he's a very solid player. But, on Day 2A, he was also obviously getting cards and won more than his share of races. I do wish him well!

Originally Posted by wayschaff

i wonder how alex kravchenko is doing or if he even played in this years main event?

PokerNews has him sitting on 49500 at the end of Day 2a