Recap of Day 1 of the 2009 WSOP Main Event

Poker News - July 4, 2009 - Written by Bruce

The biggest poker tournament of the year is under way with the first of four Day 1's completed. Poker players and fans around the world look forward to this tournament more than any other. The insane amounts of money to be won and the prestige that goes with winning this tournament created a buzz as the 1,116 players kicked off Day 1a action on Friday. There was no short of celebrities scattered throughout the field with well known poker professionals and famous entertainers all hoping to be this year's winner. Comedians Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett along with former actors turned poker pros Gabe Kaplan and Jennifer Tilly. Popular rapper Nelly also was a part of the field and amazingly was seating right next to the former "Seinfeld" actor Alexander. Former MLB pitcher Orel Hershiser was also in the Day 1a field. There were also two former World Series of Poker Main Event champions playing on Friday in Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang. Some other of poker's top players in the Day 1a field were Allen Cunningham, John Phan, Eli Elezra, Freddy Deeb, Andy Bloch, Gavin Smith, and Sorel Mizzi.

All players competing in the Main Event will start with 30,000 starting chips. The blinds will start at 50-100 giving the players a comfortable 300 big blinds to start with. With the blind levels increase very slowly at every 120 minutes. This slow structure is one of things that makes this tournament so special giving the players a lot of chips to work with. This great structure is still not a guarantee to make it through the first day of play as many poker greats were eliminated. Freddy Deeg, Isaac Haxton, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch, and Jon Phan all will have to wait another year for their shot at the WSOP Main Event title. After Day 1a was completed 821 players remained of the 1,116 starting players. The remaining players will return after all four Day 1's are completed to play Day 2a on July 7th.

Two of the well known players in this field ended the day among the chip leaders. Eli Elezra finished the day's action with 83,375 chips and the hilarious Jason Alexander showed his poker talents ending the day with 89,575 chips. It will be very interesting to see if Alexander can make a deep run in this tournament without the help of Kramer or Jerry. After the all the chips were counted Eric Cloutier emerged as the Day 1a chip leader with a massive stack of 150,750 chips. The 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event has gotten off to a great start with Day 1a complete and Day 2a beginning on Saturday. The Main Event will only grow in excitement with every day and this was an action packed day of poker to kick it off.