10 THINGS TO KNOW AS WE KICK OFF THE 2014 MAIN EVENT
It's here. The Main Event is finally here. For the tenth time, the doors of the Amazon Room open up to welcome thousands of poker hopefuls taking their annual shot at the biggest, most prestigious title in the game.  This $10,000 buy-in tournament is expected to see over 6,000 players flock to the Rio over the course of the next three days. With so many people to keep track of, we thought we'd point out a few things to keep an eye on as this massive show gets on the road:

1. This is the first of three starting flights. Day 1B will run on Sunday, while Day 1C, typically the largest field of the three, starts on Monday afternoon. The first two flights will return on Tuesday for Day 2AB, while the third flight plays their Day 2 on Wednesday.

2. About an hour out from registration, there are currently two Main Event champs signed up for 1A, Johnny Chan and Greg Merson. However, the Rio’s very first Main Event winner Joe Hachem will be doing Shuffle Up and Deal honors, so don’t be surprised if he jumps in the field as well.

3. There are actually three bracelet events running today. In addition to the beginning of the Main Event, the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event is playing down to a winner today, while the Little One for One Drop will play its third of four days.

4. Contrary to popular belief, the WSOP Player of the Year contest is far from a two-person race at this stage of the game. While Brandon Shack-Harris and George Danzer have a leg up on the field, basically any player with a bracelet this year puts themselves in the conversation for the honor. So far, we count four 2014 bracelet winners in the field: $50,000 Poker Players Champion John Hennigan, Kyle Cartwright, Andrew Rennhack, and Ted Forrest.

5. Today we will play five two-hour levels with a 90-minute dinner break after the third level at around 6:45pm. Registration will close for the day when play resumes after dinner at around 8:15pm. Play will end for the night around 12:30am.

6. We will be running live satellites in the Pavilion Room six times a day starting as early as 8:00am. The price points for these events range from $130 to $2,080. More info is available on WSOP.com.

7. If you’re in Nevada, you should block out some time starting at around 5pm tonight, as WSOP.com will be hosting an online satellite to the Main Event with a whopping 25 guaranteed seats. The buy-in for the tournament is $215 and cards get in the air at 5:00pm.

8. We are awarding only our fifth eight-figure payday in WSOP history to the winner of this event. The only other players to see that kind of money are Jamie Gold, 2012 Big One for One Drop runner-up Sam Trickett, and our two One Drop champs, Dan Colman and Antonio Esfandiari. The original One Drop champ, Esfandiari, will be in the field today.

9. Three of last year’s November Nine will be starting their quest to return to Vegas in the fall for the finale. Jay Farber, David Benefield, and Marc-Etienne McLaughlin are playing today. McLaughlin is one of a long list of November Niners who have already final tabled an event this year. He took seventh in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event.

10. Someone is taking home $10 million this year in celebration of our tenth year running the Main Event at the Rio. If you’re playing today, be sure to hashtag your Tweets about the event #MainEvent so we can all talk about the tournament action together.