The last of the popular $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em events, number 54, predictably attracted a massive entry field which will be run off in two Day 1 heats initially.
Day 1a, which started Thursday afternoon saw 2,340 entrants taking their seats with almost every recognisable name in international poker among the field.
By late night Thursday the surviving 350 had reached level 9 when Day 1a was wrapped – a remarkable attrition rate of around a player every four minutes.
Leading the Day 1a field is Eelke Arjaans on 75,550, Alan Keating on 62,000 and Ron Schutsky on 62,000.
Big names who did not survive the day included Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, Matt Hawrilenko, Berry Johnston, Faraz Jaka, Dennis Phillips, Brandon Canto, Scott Montgomery, Allen Kessler and Dwyte Pilgrim.
On the positive side, those going into Day 2 will include: Liv Boeree, Tony Dunst, Nikolay Evdakov, Shannon Shorr, and Kara Scott.