Well today was one of the most exciting days on the poker calendar, as the biggest poker tournament in the world kicked off at Day 1a of the 2012 Main Event! 1066 players stormed the Rio this morning with $10,000 and a dream, and after five action packed levels. William John is looking down at everyone else, as he sits on a whopping 266,700 chips, which covers the rest of the field by 100,000. Trailing John are Gerardo Lubas (165,800), Daniel Strelitz (164,125), Dane Lomas (157,600), and Chance Kornuth (141,775), who round out the top five.

Plenty of famous faces were here at the Rio today, including our defending champion Pius Heinz. Heinz spent most of his day on the main stage in the mothership, and he grinded a shortish stack for much of the day. However, Heinz found a key double up in the last level and his stack grew to 39,275 by the end of the night.

We were also surprised to see the one, the only, Phil Hellmuth, who unlike in past years, made a quiet, subdued entrance to this event. Hellmuth originally had registered for Day 1C of this event, but tweeted that after getting 14.5 hours of sleep, he was ready to play the day. Unfortunately for Hellmuth, it might not have been his best decision, as he was eliminated in the last level of the night when his top pair ran into the bottom set of Michael Tureniec.

While Hellmuth won't be coming back for Day 2, there are a ton of notable names that still have a shot at the dream of the Main Event Final Table. That list of names includes Eric Baldwin (123,150), Faraz Jaka (115,775), Filippo Candio (85,000), JJ Liu (78,800), Mike Sexton (15,200), and David Williams (9,100).

Of course, not everyone could make it to the end of the day. We lost a handful of famous faces, including Ray Romano, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Allen Bari, Kathy Liebert, Eric Froehlich, Matt Glantz, Lee Markholt,Frank Kassela, Pokernews Hostess Kristy Arnett, former main event final table finishers Raymond Rahme and Soi Nguyen, and three former Main Event Champions: 1993 Champ Jim Bechtel, 2005 Champ Joe Hachem, and the aforementioned Hellmuth.

The players who have advanced to make it to Day 2 will now have two days off before they return on Tuesday at noon to play five more levels. Tomorrow will be Day 1b, where we will see a fresh batch of players try to match the accomplishment of today's survivors. Play for Day 1b will start at noon tomorrow, so we hope that you come back to Pokernews to check out all the action. Until then, good night from the desert!

This is how some of the big stacks and notable names look at the end of Day 1a of the 2012 World Series of Poker.

William John	266,700	36,700
Gerardo Lubas	165,800
Daniel Strelitz	164,125	12,125
Dane Lomas	157,600
Chance Kornuth	141,775	73,775
Johnathan Cuevas	141,675	7,675
Eric Kurtzman	136,900	-13,100
David Randall	132,750	-15,250
Vasile Buboi	132,075	-27,925
Leo Wolpert	128,300	-6,700
Barakeh Fadi	123,450	3,450
Eric Baldwin	123,150	5,150
Jamie Armstrong	120,400	-16,600
Michael Tureniec	118,425	-1,575
Faraz Jaka	115,775	17,775
Ryan Welch	110,425	-9,575
Roman Valerstein	99,950	41,950
Anton Wigg	94,000	24,000
Zach Hall	85,250	-39,750
Filippo Candio	85,000	31,000
JJ Liu	78,800	23,800
Karina Jett	68,500	14,500
Isaac Haxton	59,200	10,200
Ilan Boujenah	51,050	-1,950
Kevin Pollak	43,900	-100
Kennii Nguyen	43,500	3,500
Pius Heinz	39,275	-8,725
Jay Rosenkrantz	30,100	-26,900
Aaron Steury	27,600	7,600
Allen Cunningham	25,375	-21,625
Matt Stout	23,400	-3,600
Mike Matusow	23,400	-17,600
Mike Sexton	15,200	-1,300

We arrived at William John's table with the board reading .

He bet 10,000, one player folded, and another called to see the turn. John checked to his opponent who bet 14,000, but that didn't shake John who called to see the river.

It was at this point where things got a bit confusing, as John picked up a few orange chips and tossed them back and forth in his hands. He then put them back on the table and was on the verge of betting 25,000 before he stood up out of his chair and started dancing to the music he was listening to.

As he was dancing, he announced all in and happily showed when his opponent folded.

William John

230,000

70,000

Two-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year, Frank Kassela has just made a late exit from the Main Event here in 2012. He was all in for his extreme short stack, holding against the of Danny Smith. The board was not friendly to Kassela, sending him to the rail.

Frank Kassela

0

-63,000

Roberto Luongo has taken a bit of a hit during the last three hands of the night.

With the board reading , Luongo and an opponent went back and forth with a few raises before his opponent called all in for about 28,000 with . Luongo trailed with and was unable to catch up when the turn and river fell.

Roberto Luongo

41,000

-20,000

The tournament clock has been paused and the call for just three more hands has been made. Stay tuned for any late action, some end-of-day chip counts and a full recap of Day 1a.

One of the friendly World Series of Poker tournament staff here in the Amazon Room just recalled to us how Matt Stout managed to double his stack from around 13,000 up to 27,000. Apparently Stout was all in preflop against one opponent, with Stout holding and his opponent having him covered holding . The board gave Stout the quad cowboys, just about enough to rake in the double up.

Matt Stout

27,000

0

PokerNews hostess Kristy Arnett has just been eliminated from the World Series of Poker Main Event with just 30 minutes of play left on Day 1a.

The flop read and Arnett shoved all in over the 4,000-chip raise from the player to her right. While he was tanking she told us the following.

The player to her right had limped under the gun, and Arnett raised it up to 1,400. The other players folded and the limper, Moacyr Arnaldo Farah, called. On the flop, Farah checked and Arnett fired out 1,600. At this point Farah made it 4,000 and Arnett moved all in for around 12,000 chips. Arnett's opponent paused before making the call.

Kristy Arnett
Moacyr Arnaldo Farah

The turn was the , and the river the , knocking out Arnett. Hopes and dreams were shattered this year for Arnett, but our guess is we'll be seeing her back in action next year.

Kristy Arnett

0

-14,000

We reached the table, and David Williams was all in with on a board of . His opponent had , and the turn and river came , respectively, doubling Williams to 10,000 chips.

David Williams

10,000

4,500

The David Williams roller coaster has continued late into the evening, with Williams recently having his stack down to as low as 2,500. That has improved to around 5,500 though, as Williams has just doubled up.

Williams was in middle position when he was all in for around 2,500 preflop holding against the small blind's . The board was friendly to Williams, sending him the double.

David Williams

5,500

0

Thijmen Stocker led out for 2,000 with the board reading . His opponent min-raised to 4,000, and Stocker responded by re-raising all in. The bet was 18,975 total, and Stocker's opponent tank-called.

Stocker:
Opponent:

The turn and river came , respectively, and Stocker doubled to 40,000 chips.

Thijmen Stocker

40,000

19,000

Pius Heinz was hovering around 15,000 for most of the day, but he has caught a heater in the last level, and his stack is ballooning as a result. In the last hand we caught, Heinz held against a short stack's . The suspense was all but over when the dealer fanned out a flop of . The on the turn ended things, and the meaningless river was the .

After that hand, Heinz is up to 48,000, and will be looking to increase his stack even more in the last half hour of play tonight.

Pius Heinz

48,000

20,500

Eric Baldwin is up to about 120,000 after busting an opponent.

When we arrived at the table, the decision was on Baldwins's opponent for his tournament life on an board. After a little while in the tank, his opponent called all in for roughly 20,000 with . Baldwin tabled and had the hand clinched.

A meaningless river secured the pot for Baldwin.

Eric Baldwin

118,000

43,000

According to his Twitter:

David Chicotsky

0

-8,000

When we reached the table, the board read , and there was about 35,000 in the middle. Roman Valerstein checked, and Zach Hall moved all in for effectively 58,000. Valerstein folded face up and Hall showed .

"Wowwwwww," Valerstein blurted. "Why would you do that?"

Hall laughed, and raked in the pot, pushing his stack over 100,000 chips.

Over at the ESPN featured table sits last year's Main Event champ, Pius Heinz. We don't know exactly how the action went, but the flop read and Heinz moved all in for 7,775. Action moved over to Heinz's opponent who took about a minute deciding his course of action. In the end he opted to call and threw out the right amount of chips to put Heinz at risk. Cards were then tabled and it was Heinz who was ahead.

Heinz:
Opponent:

Both players had flopped flushes, but it was Heinz's that was superior. A on the turn, and a on the river sealed the deal and Heinz doubled up to around 27,500.

Pius Heinz

27,500

11,500

Isaac Baron has continued his late run to sit ever-higher on the chip leader board, managing to scoop up another pot that played out like so. Folded to Baron on the button, he raised it up to 1,000. Both the small blind and the big blind would make the call and the dealer would ready three cards for the felt.

Flop:

The small blind checked here and the big blind bet 2,500. Baron called and the small blind got out of the way. Both remaining players then checked the turn and it was on to the river. The small blind led out for 4,300 and Baron called. Baron then tabled , enough to send his opponent's cards into the muck and rake in the pot.

Isaac Baron

92,000

20,000

David Williams is back under 20,000 in chips, courtesy of Steve McNally. The hand in question saw McNally open the pot to 825 from the cutoff. David Williams then three-bet to 2,000 from the button and the dealer would spread out a flop. McNally checked here and Williams bet 2,300. Both players checked the turn and it was on to the river. This time McNally would lead out for 5,800 and Williams would make the call.

When McNally turned over , the runner-runner flush was enough to swipe the pot off Williams.

Steve Mcnally	83,000
David Williams	17,000	-6,000