WSOPE Main Event Begins With Record Field

The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event is underway, with 593 players competing for a prize pool of €5,692,800. After both Day 1 flights were completed over the weekend, there were several hundred players remaining, each of whom is still hoping for a chance to win the €1.4 million first prize.

The field set a new record for the WSOPE Main Event, destroying the previous record of 362 – and vindicating the idea of moving the series from London, England, to Cannes, France.

The chip leader heading into Day 2 is American Jamie Rosen, who competed on Day 1A and finished with 162,700 chips. In second place was Day 1B leader, Lari Sihvo, who bagged 144,725 chips.

As always, many top players were eliminated on Day 1. Some of the notable eliminations included Michael Mizrachi, Viktor Blom, Bertrand Grospellier, Matt Giannetti, and Jason Mercier. Also eliminated was Phil Hellmuth, which essentially assured Ben Lamb of victory in the 2011 World Series of Poker Player of the Year competition.

Of course, more than a few big name players made it through to Day 2 with healthy stacks. Chris Moorman, Johnny Chan, and Erik Friberg all finished Day 1A with over 100,000 chips, while Robert Mizrachi and Alex Kostritsyn did the same on Day 1B.

Of course, there’s no rush to make a big stack early in the tournament, and plenty of the world’s best players are still alive with plenty of chips to be contenders. A short list of notables still alive would include Barry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, Joe Cassidy, John Racener, Hoyt Corkins, Vanessa Rousso, Olivier Busquet, Sean Getzwiller, Sam Holden, Jeff Lisandro and Erik Seidel. Last year’s champion James Bord is still in contention, as well.

In all, the top 64 finishers at this year’s WSOPE Main Event will win money, with the smallest prize being €20,000. The tournament is expected to play down to the final table on Wednesday, with the winner being crowned on Thursday.