WSOP Main Event - Day 1A

Although 56 bracelets have already been given away, there's one that still remains, and it's the prize that everyone in the poker world dreams of: the Main Event gold bracelet. After almost six weeks of gruelling poker festivity, the granddaddy of them all has finally arrived on Rio shores, and everyone has their eyes on gold.

945 piled into the Amazon Room today for Day 1A, with another 180 in the Pavillion Room. Among them were numerous faces from the poker scene, the likes of Ted Forrest, Chris Moneymaker and Tiffany Michelle all looking to improve on their 30,000 starting stack. Also present was Ray Romano of hit TV show 'Everybody Loves Raymond', professional basketball player Shawn Marion, and American model and actress Sarah Jean Underwood.

After tournament director Jack Effel welcomed everyone to the event, Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer announced "Shuffle up and deal!" and play was underway, the plan being to play four and a half two hours levels with a ninety dinner break inbetween.

Despite his enthusiasm on the microphone, Raymer didn't make it past the opening level. His stack was decimated when he put an opponent all in with Kd-Qd versus T-T on a Q-Td-xd flop, the turn and river bricking out to leave Raymer with just a couple of thousand. Soon after, Raymer reraised all in with pocket eights, but ran into aces which ultimately held.

Among the field were a smattering of Brits (and Irish) such as Priyan Demel, Mohammed Hassan, Praz Bansi, Donnacha O'Dea, Julian Thew, Mel Judah, David Gent, Asa Smith and Javed Abrahamas. Chris Moorman, Richard Ashby and Andy Black were also here, but departed early doors.

November Nine's James Akenhead faired little better, finishing the day with around 12,000 in chips. "Couldn't win a pot," he reported shaking his head. "They kept hitting the nuts. One hand I raised with A-K and the big blind called with Q-4. The flop came 4-4-6. It was like that all day." Meanwhile, across the table, Peter Gould's stack fluctuated like a yoyo on speed. "It's been an exciting day," he confessed in the final moments. "Went down to 6,000, up to 60,000, now on 20,000."

Others, however, saw their stack head the other way, Jeff Duvall going steady eddie before finishing on 45,000, and silent assassin and former finalist John Shipley sneaking up to 100,000. Bracelet winner Steve Jelinek also left ahead, his stack of 57,000 deriving from multiple sets - "I kept flopping trip kings" - and some aggressive play within the final levels. "It's a tough table. Everyone's really good, but I managed to win a few chips near the end."

No Black Belt Poker sponsored pros or online qualifiers played this Day, but we were graced with the presence of former Grader and reigning Irish Open Champion James Mitchell. James ended the day with 41,075 (despite what the official counts might say), although faced a tough battle on his hands when he was sent hurtling down to 20,000 courtesy of a kings versus aces encounter with Dan Carter. "He got it all in with just a pair of kings," smiled Dan. :"Yeah, I bluffed them all away," replied James. Either way, Dan boasts double the average with 108,500.

In other news, Nick Evans doubled through to 65,000 with K-K versus J-J before flat-lining and finishing on 60,000, whilst Jeff Kimber "hit a couple of sets" to end with 75,000. "Nothing exciting. Didn't double up, didn't knock anyone out." John Magill, Matt Nieberg and Tim Flanders all finished with 40-50,000, whilst Jamie Brown had 25,000.

Although Billy Baxter, Isaac Haxton, Victor Rhamdin, Chino Rheem and TJ Cloutier fell a the first hurdle, 819 survivors were able to Twitter the good news, of whom included the likes of Dutch Boyd, Vince Van Pattern, Bobby Baldwin, Barry Shulman, and the evasive Vinny Vinh. However, their stacks paled in comparison to that of Dwyen Ringbauer's. He bagged up 191,125 and could well emerge as chip leader heading into Day 2.

Tomorrow sees the entrance of Blue Belt Owen Robinson, the UKIPT finalist looking to make his mark in Vegas. Also pencilled in are some blasts from the past in last year's Vegas 8 members: Kevin Allen, James Keys, Sida Yuen and David Tighe. Day 1A was a slobberknocker, I expect Part Two to be just the same.

Previous WSOP Reports:

Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event

Vegas Blog:

May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
July 6: Tournament of Famous People