The Las Vegas Strip cleaned itself up on Saturday morning after another year of Independence Day fireworks and the late night partiers slept in while thousands of poker players were flowing into Horseshoe and Paris for its fourth and final opening round.
Those who are nostalgic for packed Main Event rooms with lots of quiet tension would be pleased, as every inch of space was needed for nearly 5,000 players. Those who enjoy Criss Angel would also be pleased, as he popped in during an early break to reveal this year's Main Event bracelet. He did not do any magic.
Big field puts 10K in reach
Day 1D pushed players to every end of the venue, but the question of another record-breaking year will linger into Sunday and Monday with dwindling hope for the over bettors. Saturday's session teased the 5,000 mark as the tournament clock wound down to its ten-minute pause, but the final number settled in at 4,997 (barring any late night corrections.) Just over 3,800 of them will take Sunday off and return on Monday for more.
Last year's final flight drew 5,014 entries on the road to a record-breaking 10,112. Day 2 registration added 912 more to push it over the line, but this year will require much more. Kevin 'KevMath' Mathers estimates around 1,100 this year, and he's probably going to be close. The current total sits at roughly 8,788 players.
Among the most productive of those 4,997 Day 1D entries were WSOP mainstay Cliff Josephy, Jonathan Jaffe, Chicago's own Nick Pupillo, and presumptive chip leader Riva Arthur. Arthur has a long list of cashes from the East Coast grind in just a couple of years, and one so far at the WSOP in this week's Summer Celebration. She has already won a $1,100 event at Aria in June and her first WSOP cash was a run to 63rd in the 2023 Millionaire Maker.
Deeb wants PoY
Elsewhere at the WSOP, Shaun Deeb continued his pursuit of the Player of the Year title with a deep run in the $1,000 NLH event. He jumped into the lead this week with his win in the $100K PLO High Roller, after which he hinted that he may skip the Main Event to rack up points in other tournaments. Martin Kabrhel, Benny Glaser, and Scott Bohlman are in pursuit of Deeb for the title, but he still owned the spotlight on Saturday.
Deeb remains in the hunt for a bracelet in the late night/early morning on Sunday with five remaining, though he has fallen to the bottom of the leaderboard. His fantasy owners will pick up a minimum of 48 points with the 18-point field bonus.
Day 1D takes up a lot of space, but there was still room for the $2,500 Freezeout to play down to its end game. The original field of 1,299 players is now four as of press time and one of them is PokerGO's very own Cary Katz. This would be his first bracelet.
Both tournaments were expected to play to a winner this evening, but one or both may require an extra day if they extend into the very late hours.
PokerOrg will join the survivors from the first three flights of the Main Event in returning on Sunday for coverage of Day 2ABC.
