WSOP 2010 Main Event kicks off in Las Vegas
More than 6,500 poker players enter the world's richest sporting event...and there are some big early shocks
| by The Suited Connector |  July, 6th 2010 |
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Above: The WSOP 2010 Main Event November Nine in Las Vegas
THE 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event is finally underway in Las Vegas - and Day 1A say some big guns fall at the Rio.
Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Champion, asked players to "shuffle up and deal"...and was then promptly knocked out before the end of the first level.
Raymer lost almost his entire chip stack within 10 hands including a huge pot when he missed a flush draw and lost to trip 10s, leaving him with just 2,000 of his 30,000 starting chips.
He said: "I decided to play it aggressively. I was actually pretty sure the guy had two aces.
"I thought he'd fold because now it looks so much like I flopped a set, but he actually had the set."
Other big name pros to kick the WSOP bucket early were Victor Ramdin, Johannes Strassmann and Michael Keiner.
But there was better news for 2003 champ Chris Moneymaker. He ended the day with more than 100,000 chips after enjoying some late luck in level four. Moneymaker has said he's desperate for a deep finish at this year's WSOP after a disastrous performance in 2009.
A mindboggling 1,125 players turned up for first of the three 'Day 1s' last night, each gambling $10,000 on - statistically - crazy hopes of winning millions at the planet's richest sports event.
The field of 6,503 - nine more than last year - means a prize pool of more than $61 million and a guaranteed first prize in excess of the $8.55 million Joe Cada's poket nines won him last year.
As ever, the structure is absolutely terrifying - the blinds go up every two hours and in the very early stages players face nine consecutive hours of poker with no breaks.
Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, told his opponents the best early strategy in the World Series Main Event is to play very conservatively.
"I think your best bet to make it to Day 2 is not show up to Day 1," he said.
