(Way) Outside the WSOP – Day 2 3 2 $40k NL Holdem Starts, $500 Casino Employees finishes
Play officially began for the 40th World Series of Poker as Phil Hellmuth and Jeffrey Pollack bellowed the immortal “Shuffle Up and Deal” for event #1, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. A smaller than expected field of 866 entered the Amazon Room to take part including known names such as Bellagio TD Jack McClelland, Marsha Waggoner, and two-time bracelet winner Pat Poels. Play ended when the money was reached at around 1am PT with 81 players (including Team Pokerati member John Harris). The chip leader going into today’s play is Cesar Chavez (not to be confused with Cesar Chavez) with nearly 110,000 in chips. Those players will return at 2pm to play down to the first bracelet winner of the Series.
The first open event at the WSOP also has the highest buyin for a no-limit holdem event. Event #2, the 40th Anniversary $40,000 NL Holdem starts at 12 noon. Players will start with 300 BBs (120,000 in chips), so don’t expect too much action on day one of the four day event. What will be highly anticipated is the number of entrants for this event. Most are expecting around 225-300 to try and get themselves on the ESPN final table on Sunday afternoon.
My first over/under prediction didn’t go so well, as I was over 200 off and was below the WSOP Staff Guide’s projection for the Casino Employees event. I’ll try to get myself to 1-1 by stating that the field will be well over the 150 projected by the WSOP, with a final field size of 237. More updates to come as the day progresses.
DanM says:
May 28th, 2009 at 9:58am
OK, Kevin, not to take our internal business public … but we’ve got to get on the same page with the Day numbers. Do you feel strongly that it’s Day 2 even though by official WSOP count it’s Day 3?
Kevin Mathers says:
May 28th, 2009 at 10:01am
Looks like day 3 to me. Now I just have to remind myself to make sure I’m on the same page.
DanM says:
May 28th, 2009 at 10:02am
LOL, yes, I don’t know what I was talking about.
So are you using some special version of the WSOP calendar?
Kevin Mathers says:
May 28th, 2009 at 10:10am
It was like I was using the Julian calendar or something…
DanM says:
May 28th, 2009 at 6:12pm
More LOL …
Even Jeffrey Pollack is calling today Day 2:
If Mathers wants to call it Day 2, and Pollack wants to call it Day 2 … I’m thinking we should probably call it something close to that.
DanM says:
May 28th, 2009 at 6:13pm
Didn’t realize Poels was playing either … he’s one of “our guys”.
Kevin Mathers says:
May 28th, 2009 at 6:45pm
Need to check those updates at wsop.com Dan. Can we call today day 2.5 so we can cover the possibilities?
California Jen says:
May 28th, 2009 at 8:44pm
I’m willing to go with today as Day 2. I think that’s the general consensus…though I like the idea of saying it’s 2.5. Every day can have a .5, and that will set us apart from the rest. 🙂