It was the second largest field in the World Series of Poker Main Event history. A total of 6,844 aspiring WSOP bracelet winners trooped to the Rio pumping up the total prize money to a staggering $9,119,517. Doomsday soothsayers beware. Top 666 of the players will get paid and the minimum cash-out will be $21,230.

Day 1D of the 2008 WSOP Championship saw former champions Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Jerry Yang, Carlos Mortensen and Noel Furlong joining the fun. Poker stars Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Allen Cunninghan and Men “The Master” Nguyen also joined the fray. Celebrity sightings include MLB pitcher David Wells and UFC fighter Chuck “The Iceman” Liddel.

Casualties are many. EPT Scandinavian Open winner Tim Vance lost when his opponent gambled with middle pair and hit a runner-runner flush to beat his straight on the flop. Poker pro David Williams was cruelly eliminated when his set of nines was beat by an opponent who hit a gutshot draw. Annie Duke busted out when her pocket tens ran into pocket queens. 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider’s dreams of a WSOP Main Event bracelet ended when his top pair couldn’t hold up against an open-ended straight flush draw. Other notables who busted out were Phil Ivey, John Phan, Chris Ferguson, Todd Brunson and Michael Mizrachi.

All is not lost for the poker pros. A total of 1,362 poker players survived Day 1D and these entrants include Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, Jerry Yang and Kirill Gerasimov. Day 1D Chip Leader is Steve Austin with 149,000 in chips. Close behind him is Mohamad Kowssarie with 146,000. Closing Day 1D in third and fourth is David Stucke with 140,525 and Sami Rustom with 140,450 respectively.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Poker Events, Poker Players, Poker Tournaments, Poker Winners, WSOP Bracelet Winners, World Series of Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.