WSOP Main Event Size Hits 4518 Players After Day 1D

Yesterday, as was the case on Saturday, the only bracelet event happening in the Rio Convention Center was the 2021 WSOP Main Event. It was the fourth of six starting flights for the $10K World Championship, and it brought in more players than the first three flights combined. It delivered in excitement and nostalgia, reminding players of pre-pandemic times, perhaps more than any other tournament thus far this year.

There was one other bracelet event happening…online. The WSOP website offered a high-stakes online event for players located in Nevada and New Jersey. It was a $3,200 High Roller with 8-max tables and two reentries possible. It drew a sizeable crowd and did award a bracelet in the pre-dawn hours of Monday.

The focus still remains on the Main Event, though. Today is the first day that many international players will be able to fly directly into the United States without quarantining in Canada or Mexico first, or without applying for a government exception to the regulations. Players did book their flights to arrive on November 8-9, which will be just in time to get into the Main.

Now, everyone waits to see how many poker players actually did it.

Meanwhile, let’s look at what happened yesterday.

Event 67: $10K buy-in WSOP Main Event

Day 1D of the Main Event played out on Sunday with a massive field more than doubling the entries from the first three flights. More than 1,900 players bagged chips on Sunday night, with Adedapo Ajayi bagging the most. However, he didn’t overtake Aleksandr Shevlyakov and his Day 1C stack that neared 400K.

Day 1D Main Event Highlights

More previous Main Event winners played on Sunday. As for those efforts, Greg Raymer (2004) didn’t make it through, nor did Joe McKeehen (2015).

One of the great things about the WSOP Main Event is the ability to highlight unique stories. One mixed recreational poker with the new US online poker market that now includes Pennsylvania, a very inexpensive online satellite turned $20 into a $10K Main Event seat. John Coyle is a teacher at a charter school in Philadelphia, and PokerNews talked to him about his experience. (He finished the day with 85,200 chips.

Hayley Hochstetler provided a little added incentive for potential Main Event winners by posting a picture of the newly-arrived bracelet.

https://twitter.com/hayleyocho/status/1457494305006764033?s=20

Finally, Jeff Platt was able to give the ultimate WSOP tour for the PokerGO livestream and for CBS Sports. In three tweets, he takes the viewers to all of the three major ballrooms hosting the World Series of Poker this year at the Rio, explaining what happens in each one.

Ok folks, let's take you around the Rio. A tour of THE MAIN at the @WSOP

Part 1: pic.twitter.com/b3AVYkAwiq

— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) November 8, 2021

Our final stop: THE AMAZON ROOM pic.twitter.com/wpmv8y3Ok5

— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) November 8, 2021

Event OB 7: $3,200 NLHE Online High Roller

This tournament online brought in a few hundred players and more than 100 reentries. It finished near dawn Las Vegas time – breakfast time in New Jersey – and showed a winner for whom we have no name. The WSOP will eventually provide one.