Welcome to Day 1b of Event #76: $10,000 WSOP Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker. Cards go in the air at 12 p.m. local time for the second of four opening flights at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Day 1a drew more than 1,000 players to the first flight, up from the 896 that turned out for the opening day of the 2022 Main Event. A total of 810 players bagged after five levels of play and they will all return on Friday for Day 2abc.
Records have fallen all summer long and many expect this year’s Main Event to be no exception. All eyes will be on the field size over the next three days to see if the 2006 record of 8,773 players will finally be eclipsed. Last year’s tilt drew 8,663 players and Espen Jorstad took home $10,000,000 for winning the world championship.
Israel’s Yehuda Dayan bagged the chip lead on Day 1a, but Doug Polk is lurking close behind after he bagged the fourth-largest stack of the day. Other returning notables include Faraz Jaka, David Moses, Bin Weng, John Hennigan, and 2006 Main Event Champion Jamie Gold. Gold had the honor of giving the “Shuffle Up and Deal” order at the beginning of the day and he got off to a quick start to bag just over 160,000.
Players will begin with 60,000 in chips and each of the opening flights will play five 120-minute levels before the remaining players bag up for their respective Day 2. Breaks are scheduled after each level and a 75-minute dinner break will be taken after Level 3. Surviving players from Day 1b will combine with those from 1a and 1c on Friday, July 7.
Day 1b Schedule
| LEVEL | ESTIMATED START | DURATION | SMALL BLIND | BIG BLIND | BIG BLIND ANTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:00 p.m. | 120 minutes | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 2:00 p.m. | 20-minute break | ||||
| 2 | 2:20 p.m. | 120 minutes | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 4:20 p.m. | 20-minute break | ||||
| 3 | 4:40 p.m. | 120 minutes | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6:40 p.m. | 75-minute break | ||||
| 4 | 7:55 p.m. | 120 minutes | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 9:55 p.m. | 20-minute break | ||||
| 5 | 10:15 p.m. | 120 minutes | 300 | 600 | 600 |
Registration remains open through the first two levels of Day 2 and no reentries are available for this freezeout event. The tournament will stretch over two weeks and the final day of play is scheduled for Monday, July 17.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of the 2023 WSOP Main Event at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
