Event #68: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship

Records fell today on the final Day 1 of the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event as 3,963 players bought in for a shot at being this year's Champion. This is the largest single flight in Main Event history, and it means that a total of 6,420 players have entered the Main Event. There were 2,765 who bagged chips tonight. Over the course of all three starting flights, 4,389 players advance to Day 2.

After registration officially closed, tournament staff announced the payout information. The 6,420 entries created a prize pool of $60,348,000. The top 1,000 place will be paid, with a min-cash worth $15,000. All players who make the November Nine will earn seven-figure payouts, and the winner will take home $7,680,021. Full payouts are available here.

It was 2014 Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson who got today's festivities underway, having recovered sufficiently enough from the illness that ruled him out of starting Day 1a to be able to give out the "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement after his banner for his victory last year was unveiled. Jacobson's day did not get any better as he was unable to gain any traction before falling shortly after the dinner break to Garrett Greuner.

Martin Jacobson announcing "Shuffle Up and Deal!"

John Gorsuch ended the day as the chip leader, the Virginia native bagging up 198,100 at the close of play. Joining Gorsuch at the top of the counts are Zarik Megerdichian (180,400), James Juvancic (166,350), Timo Pfutzenreuter (150,075), Jeff Griffiths (140,400) and Craig Varnell (140,000).

John Gorsuch

There were many former WSOP Main Event Champions in the field today, with a number of them making it through to Day 2. 2013 Champion Ryan Riess leads that particular field with 108,800 at the close of play, and he will be joined on Day 2C by Jamie Gold (81,000), Joe Hachem (63,500), Peter Eastgate (22,100), and Phil Hellmuth (79,725). Hellmuth registered during the dinner break today and found himself seated on the same table as none other than Phil Ivey, with Ivey "getting the best of Hellmuth to double up" at one point. The champions will be joined by Daniel Negreanu (73,825), Allen Cunningham (65,025), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier (22,375) and Michael Mizrachi (64,350), who all made it to Day 2 without incident.

Not everybody ran well enough to make Day 2 though, with former Main Event Champions Joe Cada, Greg Merson and Jerry Yang joining their compatriot Jacobson on the rail, with Yang suffering a horrible cooler early on Day 1 when he ran a set of sevens into a set of aces to be eliminated. Merson also found himself on the wrong side of a cooler, when he ran pocket kings into pocket aces before dinner. They were joined on the rail by some of poker's finest, such as Patrik Antonius, Jimmy Fricke, Mike Sexton and Jennifer Harman, who were all eliminated by the end of the day.

It wasn't just some of the game's best players that were successful today, with a number of celebrities and sports personalities taking their seats at the table today. Most successful was former MLB first round draft pick Wade Townsend, who bagged up 146,000 going into Thursday's Day 2. He will be joined by famous actors and comedians Ray Romano (33,375) and Brad Garrett (46,050), who dodged bullets and avoided sharks to finish today's play and continue in the Main Event.

Unfortunately for some of the celebrities, today was not their lucky day. Ex-NFL star Richard Seymour battled valiantly throughout the day, but he was eliminated at the beginning of Level 5. Also spotted in today's field was Aaron Paul, best known for playing Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. Coincidentally, there was a player named Walter White registered for Day 1A who bagged up 29,975 chips, but Paul was unable to join him, busting early on Day 1 when he ran a set into a flopped flush. NBA star and Phoenix Suns player Earl Barron took his seat today, but the 7'0" center/power forward sadly bust very late at the end of Day 1.

All players that survived today will now take a day off before they return on Thursday for Day 2c here at the Rio. Tomorrow will see the return of the players that survived Days 1a and 1b respectively, and they will converge on the World Series of Poker for another grueling five two-hour levels at 12pm local time tomorrow to play through to Day 3, which is scheduled for Friday.

Join us tomorrow here at WSOP.com as we bring you all the action from the first of the Day Twos as the remaining players continue on their quest to become this year's WSOP Main Event Champion!

The flop is    . The big blind checks, a middle position player bets 1,500 and Rob Klein raises to 4,200 from the cutoff. The big blind calls and the middle position player folds.

The turn is the   and all the players check.

The river is the  . Klein bets 6,600 and the player in middle position calls. The middle position player tables    and Klein turns over   . Klein takes the pot with a straight.

Rob Klein - 46,300

The player under the gun raises to 850 and the action folds around to Tony Hachem in the big blind. He calls before both players watch the flop come down    .

Hachem checks before his opponent throws out a continuation bet of 1,550. Hachem then comes over the top with a raise to 4,300, which his opponent calls.

Both players then check the   on the turn before the   lands on the river.

Hachem leads out for 4,500 and his opponent mucks his hand.

Tony Hachem - 35,000

The player under the gun plus one limps into the pot, followed by the player in the hijack, as well as Elliot Smith and Eli Elezra in the blinds.

The flop comes down     and the action folds to the player in the hijack who bets 1,200. Only Smith calls before the   drops on the turn.

Smith checks once again before his opponent bets out 5,000, enough to cover his stack.

"What do you have?" asks Smith to his opponent. "Come on. Tell me this one time," he adds.

"We've all been drinking here man," pleads Smith. "What do you want me to do?" he asks again.

"Up to you," his opponent finally answers. Three minutes then pass as Smith pulls his t-shirt over his face before sitting motionless.

The clock is finally called on Smith, and with just four seconds left in his countdown, finally opts to let his hand go.

"Good fold buddy," says Elezra to Smith.

"What did you have?" asked Smith's opponent from the hand.

"I had a jack," responds Smith.

Smith's opponent then flashes a   to reassure he made the right laydown.

Elliot Smith - 4,325

We are nearing the end of the night and Table 107 in the White section of the Pavilion Room just got a bit more fun. Joe Hachem has bought his entire table a round of tequila shots, and every player at the table has taken part.

In addition, there are prop bets happening regarding a previous hand in which a player at the table may or may not have made a huge bluff. According to a player in Seat 3, at the end of the evening, a player in Seat 9 will reveal to the table if he bluffed in a particular hand. If he did, Seat 3 will win $200 from Joe Hachem, if not, Hachem will win $100.

It's beer/tequila hour here at WSOP with nearly ten minutes left on the clock and Hachem is making sure to add a little excitement to the end of the long day of play.

The board is       and there are five players in the pot.

A player in middle position bets 6,800 and the player on his left folds. Mike Cohen is in the cutoff. He throws out 13,200. The middle position player says that if he wants to raise, it needs to be 13,600.

Cohen has his headphones in and doesn't immediately register. When he realises, he throws in the extra 400 and the middle position player calls.

Cohen turns over   . The player in middle position mucks his cards and says: "Did you mean to raise bigger?" Cohen replies: "Yeah, I thought you'd put 5,800."

Mike Cohen - 91,800

With the board reading      , and approximately 32,000 in the middle, Scott Baumstein bets 14,200. His opponent, who wishes to be known as "JB", then moves all-in, covering Baumstein. This visibly shocked Baumstein rocks back in his chair whilst shuffling chips in his right hand, with the occasional pause to drink a beer.

Baumstein goes into the tank for nearly ten minutes, musing out loud comments such as ,"Wow! This is sick. I know I should fold this, but it's that sick, I don't want to," whilst counting his stack and shuffling his chips. JB, in the meantime, just sits there calmly waiting for Baumstein to make his decision. Ylon Schwartz comes over from the next table to find out what's happening, and the rail of people watching grows as the time Baumstein spends in the tank slowly increases.

Eventually, with a sigh, Baumstein folds, slapping his cards face down on top of the muck. The crowd disperses as the dealer pushes the pot to JB, who is asked by another tablemate to show. JB replies "Not this year. Any other year I would show but not this year!" and this prompts Baumstein to comment, "Now I'm happy, 100% you show the bluff. I had top set here and now I know I got it right because you would show if you were bluffing!" JB just grins as he stacks up the chips, whilst Baumstein counts what's left of his stack.

Scott Baumstein - 17,500

"One of each color," says Eli Elezra as he raisesfrom under the gun to 1,625 in chips.

"Oh s***! I forgot this one," jokes Elezra, referring to a 5,000 chip.

The players in the hijack and on the button then call before the flop comes down    . Elezra checks, the player in the hijack bets 2,000, the player on the button folds, and Elezra calls.

After the   drops on the turn, Elezra checks, before instantly mucking his hand when his opponent bets 5,000.

Elezra tosses his    at his opponent as they both share a laugh.

Eli Elezra - 100,000

With a board of       showing, action is on Olivier Busquet. Busquet fires a bet of 4,000 into the pot, which had already ballooned close to 10,000 chips. His opponent quickly calls.

Busquet flicks his cards into the muck instantly without showing. His opponent turns up    for a rivered flush. Busquet frustratedly shakes his head and spreads whats left of his chip stack. He's down to just under half the starting stack.

Olivier Busquet - 14,100

Daniel Negreanu raises from under the gun and the action folds around to Darcy Christensen in the big blind, who calls. The flop comes    . Christensen checks and Negreanu continues for 1,200. Christensen check-calls.

The turn brings the   and Christensen checks again. Negreanu quickly bets 3,200 and Christensen folds.

Daniel Negreanu - 75,500