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- CES opens tomorrow, but anticipation builds today
2008 WSOP Main Event kicks off in a few hours
- 7-3-2008
The biggest poker event in
the world is about to begin, and thousands of amateurs and professional poker
players will gladly pay $10,000 a piece for a chance to win not only the
juiciest prize in the world of poker tournaments, but also the opportunity to carve
their names in stone. The WSOP Main Event has launched the poker careers of
Chris Moneymaker, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem,
Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang and many other notable players. The expected field for this
year is around 6000-7500 players, including some of the pros mentioned before
plus other great players such as FullTilt pros Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Andy
Bloch, Gus Hansen and Erik Seidel, DoylesRoom.com sponsored players Shannon
Elizabeth, Tod Brunson, Mike Caro and Doyle Brunson,  PokerStars.com pros Daniel Negreanu and
Humberto Brenes, Johnny Chan, Michael Mizrachi, Vanessa Rousso, John Juanda, Marcel
Luske, Antonio Esfandiari, Carlos Mortensen and Scotty Nguyen, just to mention
some. The expected first prize for the 2008 Main Event will be between $8 and
$10 million, with almost 600 to 750 players getting a piece of the pot.
Organizers expect thousands of players to fill the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino over 11 days, creating a field so big that the first stage will extend for over four days. The Main Event field is split into four sections of 3,000 players max, one each starting Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Play each day will run for about 12 hours, excluding breaks, from noon through about 2:30 a.m. Fields A and B are combined July 8th (C and D play July 9th) and the remaining players will join in one room on July 11th, playing each day until nine players remain. The final nine players will be defined by July 15th. However, the final table won't be played until November. The tournament officials are confident that moving the tournament's final table will generate four more months of excitement and expectation and will help the World series of Poker ratings.
"This is probably
going to be a watershed moment for poker. We've been very forthright in that
ambition. Change doesn't happen overnight but a change in intention can happen
overnight and our intention here is to help more people experience our thrills
and excitement." said the WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.
More Main Event updates will be posted in the following days.