Home / Poker News July 2009 / Chaos at the Main Event: players shut out on Day 1D
Chaos at the Main Event: players shut out on Day 1D
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2009-07-09 14:12
Following 3 undersold days, poker players took the 2009 WSOP’s Main Event by assault on Day 1D. The result of the late rush was that all the space sold out and hundreds of players – among them some of the biggest name pros – were locked out. According to WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, no exceptions were made when it came to name pros. Thus, Patrik Antonius, TJ Cloutier and Tom Franklin were among those who never got a shot at 2009 Main Event glory.
The interesting thing was that Days 1A and 1B were way undersold. Day 1A attracted a field smaller that 2008’s Day 1A, at 1,116 and Day 1B only managed to muster 873 players. Day 1C had picked the pace up a little but it still featured a stating field smaller than that of the 2008 Main Event’s Day 1C, at 1,696.
Even though the WSOP had never featured a sold out a Main Event before, it happened on Day 1D when all those who arrived late or only managed to get the buy-in together in the last minute, rushed the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. 10 other WSOP events had been sold out this year.
When the 2,809 player mark was reached, WSOP officials announced that extended occupancy had been reached.
The crowd of disgruntled players didn’t take the decision in stride though and they demanded that WSOP officials find a solution to accommodate them.
A special committee of about 20 WSOP officials convened in the Rio Convention Center hall but instead of announcing the solutions to accommodate the shut-out players, they offered apologies and promised to pin the issue of overbooking to the top of their priority list for next year.
The players suggested various theoretical solutions to their plight, like that of a separate Main Event session being held later in the day or the introduction of a special Day 1E but none of the suggested solutions could be put into practice. As Jeffrey Pollack put it: organizing a thousand player poker tournament is not something accomplishable in a day or two.
Why the majority of the players interested in the Big Dance participation showed up on the very last day remains subject to speculation, although several theories were floated. Many of the players prefer to get going on the very last day as the idea of being eliminated from contention while upcoming Day 1 fields are barely preparing for action is not exactly a pleasant one. Still other players are thought to have acquired the buy-in money only hours before the Day 1D kick-off.
Whatever the case, what’s done is done and there’s not much point in crying over spilt milk. The bottom line is, the initial days of the event yielded an aggregate starting field of 6,494 players, who have combined to create a prize-pool of $61,043,600. The winner of the Main Event will walk away $8,548,435 richer (plus whatever he earns off sponsorship deals) and 648 players will finish in the money.
