Home / Poker News June 2011 / 2011 WSOP – Opening Day
2011 WSOP – Opening Day
Posted by: Randy Williams - Wed, 2011-06-01 04:16
Although some of those present at the scene reported that things were eerily quiet on the first day of the
2011 WSOP, the numbers appear to contradict those reports. Two events got going on the first day of the series, the $500 Casino Employees event and the $25k NL Holdem Heads-up event. Both the Amazon and Pavilion rooms have apparently been flooded with throngs of players and railbirds, looking forward to tournament director Jack Effel’s “Shuffle Up and Deal” call.
The first bracelet event of the 2011 Series, the $500 Casino Employees event, saw 850 players cough up the buy-in to create a prize-pool of $382.5k. That means the winner will pick up $82,292. The top 81 places will be paid. By the time the first break came about on Tuesday, the field had whittled down to 200. 4 more levels were scheduled after the dinner break.
Despite the fact that it created quite a bit of controversy through the absence of long-time high rolling fixture Phil Ivey, the $25k
NL Holdem Heads-up event drew a handsome starting field of 128. The field was as star-studded as ever, after all, not anyone can afford to cough up this much money on a single event, especially knowing that the road to victory would lead through some of the toughest opposition on Earth. Tom Dwan faced Peter Jetten in the first round. Other, similarly high-profile match-ups were the ones between Jason Mercier and Gus Hansen, Michael Mizrachi and Justin Bonomo, Bertrand Grospellier and Daniel Cates, Alexander Kostritsyn and Daniel Negreanu. Huck Seed played Olivier Busquet and Daniel Alaei squared off against Thomas Marchese.
A total of 16 players would walk away with money from this one, with the winner pocketing a $851k prize, not to mention to coveted WSOP bling.
Steve Bilirakis was the first one to secure his second-round seat at the expense of George Lind. Andrew Robl and Scott Seiver have also moved on.
