Posted by Andrew Feldman
2:04 a.m. And that's a night! No, they haven't been playing extra time, but I have been on the floor getting interviews with Jason Alexander, Gus Hansen, Mike Sexton, Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak for the Poker Edge podcast. The last level included the elimination of Jerry Yang and the catapult to success for Alexander, who is sitting at nearly $90,000 heading into Day 2, and believe me, there's nobody more surprised than him. After hitting a miracle runner-runner full house to defeat his opponent's flopped flush, Alexander finds himself at the top of the leaderboard entering Day 2.
Many players are also concerned about the loss of the final level of play tonight. Not only did they not play the fifth level, but play stopped with 10 minutes remaining on the clock during Level 4. Some pros liked the extra break off (like Hansen and Tilly), while others believed it's a mistake made by the WSOP that will result in much longer days as the main event rolls on (Sexton). The concern is also significant as the field size was quite small today and yet only 25 percent of the field was eliminated. If that pace keeps up, the two Day 2s will be quite crowded and perhaps cause seating issues.
Either way, that's it for tonight. Play resumes tomorrow with Day 1B at noon PT when another set of players will start its main event journey.
Small blinds: Johnny Chan, although short, made it through to Day 2. Playing a short stack for most of the day, Chan battled for pots late in the day to continue on. … Annie Duke gave Alexander a lesson on how he played his hand. Of course, you'll have to listen to the Poker Edge for the entire discussion. … Notables that were eliminated during the final level: Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Men Nguyen, Orel Hershiser and Isaac Haxton.
11:25 p.m.: Jerry Yang, Johnny Chan and Steve Paul-Ambrose are all sitting at the same table. Funny enough, the player with all the chips at the table is the player sitting in between Yang and Chan, who are both relatively short stacked. Yang has mounted a small comeback during the past level. After getting to his low point of $3,500, Yang then doubled up twice to reach nearly $15,000 as he headed to break.
Although the chip counts don't mean much on Day 1, some notables at the top include Jeff Williams, Eli Elezra, Keven Stammen and Tom Schneider. More to come after the last level.
Small blinds: Right after I watched Perry Friedman eliminate a player, he was then knocked out. Perry has made Day 2 of the WSOP main event only twice in his career. … Also eliminated recently: Gabe Kaplan, Mark Vos, Matt Glantz and Nelly. … Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett both have a good amount of chips entering the last level. Both have increased their starting stack. … Remember the official sponsor All-In Energy drinks? Yeah, they're not at the WSOP. Red Bull is everywhere.
10:13 p.m.: I guess dinner didn't sit well for some people. After players returned there was a flurry of eliminations, but still, nothing too substantial to the field. I just witnessed Freddy Deeb hit the rail coming up short against his opponent's full house. At the same time, Perry Friedman flopped trip nines to overcome his opponent's A-A. The "all-in and a call" remark from the dealers has picked up as has the attentions of those at the surrounding tables. Almost immediately after the dealer announces the situation, there's an immediate movement of players in the area to surround the table in question and see the action.
Day 1A had 1,116 players register, down from 1,297 a year ago. The drop shouldn't be surprising and as we learned from last year, we have no idea what the final number will be until Day 1D is under way. Due to the small field, cash games are thriving in the back right corner and in the satellite room. Single-table tournaments continue to be played, but I haven't seen more than five or six tables in action at the same time.
Small blinds: Perry Friedman actually had to explain to a player at his table why his hand won. Yikes. … The quad jacks for the Jack Links Prize Pack continue to be hit around the room. … And they were hit again at Table 72 just recently. … Humberto Brenes' "Chark" has been everywhere. I think it's time to retire that act. … Crowds of spectators still continue to fill the rail as they try to get a glimpse of a recognizable player. … The bad beat hallway is also in full effect and I feel bad for all those who are on the other end of those conversations. … There's no line at registration at the moment.
7:30 p.m. ET: Umm … it's dinner time? Sure. Players have left on their 90-minute break at 4:30 p.m. PT to grab some food or maybe a nap before the final two levels of the night. The action has been pretty uneventful so far, but with such deep stacks, that is to be expected. Some big names filed in during the break, but the biggest names will most likely play on the final two starting days. There also have been rumors around the room that the estimated field is going to be above 8,000. I would be simply amazed. Five minutes after I heard that rumor, I was told that the field would be under 6,000. I think I'll just wait until the official numbers are released before believing anyone's estimates.
I walked through the Poker Palooza expo and saw Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro signing autographs. The expo is quite different than in past years, but I think that visitors to the WSOP would find it a great place to get books, clothing or even a poker lesson or two. If you're in Vegas, it's cool to see and just about every booth is giving away some sort of prize for registering with them.
Besides the Poker Palooza, all the online sites are represented in their own courtesy suites in the convention center. However, due to certain stipulations, they cannot be branded by online sites, but merely with names like "Champions Suite" (instead of PokerStars). These suites offer their players food, couches and a place to chat with their representatives.
That's it from here for now. The action continues at 9 p.m. ET!
Small blinds: The field is beginning to fill with more notable names. This hour I've seen Johnny Chan, Roland De Wolfe, Gus Hansen, Brian Townsend, Mark Vos, Michael Craig and Gabe Kaplan. … Sitting at the same table: Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett, Mark Vos and Mel Judah. … A jack-high straight flush lost to a royal flush. Sick. … ESPN's Lon McEachern is on crutches after knee surgery. He said he's feeling OK and that the first two episodes of the WSOP came out great. … Phil Laak is quite talkative today and he has his table laughing -- even the dealer. … De Wolfe was chowing down on some sushi at the table. No chopsticks.
5:25 p.m. ET: I just heard a couple of great remarks from Andy Bloch. However, the reason why the discussion started is because it was announced that the 90-minute dinner break will be held after the next level! That's 4:30 p.m. local time! Really? I asked Bloch about it and he said it was a Rio "Stimulus package." He said the players are going to eat at the dinner break, then again at the end of the night! Talk about brilliance on Harrah's to get back the massive amount of money they lost by the small turnout during the $50,000 HORSE event … but that's not all.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Andy Bloch had some interesting thoughts to share on the tournament structure on Day 1.
We then discussed the merits of playing on Day 1A and the shortened levels. With fewer players getting eliminated on the Day 1s, more players will be staying in Las Vegas and booking up the hotel rooms. The hotels have been relatively empty lately (as have the restaurants), and I guess this is a way to book nearly one to two thousand more hotel rooms over the holiday weekend. Bloch also noted that the pros just don't like the wait they'd have if they played on Day 1A. Making the money would take a week if you're a Day 1A starter. I'm expecting a stacked field on Day 1D, the same as in 2008.
The bracelet presentation ceremony has also just completed with Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack giving out four bracelets to WSOP champions. Unfortunately, the speaker system continued to cut out and I barely heard what was being said, but hey, congrats to all.
Small blinds: I still can't believe that dinner will be at 4:30. … Thanks to all those who stopped by during the poker chat today. … There are still cash games being played in the Amazon Room. …
3:16 p.m. ET: And we're off! The cards are in the air, but there was one major announcement made before the tournament began. Players will be playing only four levels today instead of the scheduled five. I'm quite surprised by this move, but honestly, that makes me question the turnout organizers are expecting. Play will end tonight at approximately 1:30 a.m. instead of the wonderful 3:30 a.m. we're used to seeing during the main event.
I also got a chance to speak to Orel Hershiser, who is really focused for the event. On top of that, he is assigned to the "Monday Night Baseball" game on ESPN, which he will make even if he does make it to Day 2. At the feature table today we have Allen Cunningham and Eli Elezra while Greg "FBT" Mueller, a double-bracelet winner in 2009, occupies a seat at the secondary feature table.
At exactly 3:15 was the announcement that the first player had been eliminated, meaning their $10,000 had just been spent in 15 minutes. That's $666.67 per minute. Thanks for playing.
Small blinds: Perry Friedman is sporting a Full Tilt grill and an "I Love Hip-Hop" T-shirt. His parents, who are standing on the rail, are just happy that he "enjoys life." I personally think they're the most supportive parents in all of poker as they're here for the entirety whenever he's playing. … Also seen today: Mel Judah, Jerry Yang, Gavin Smith, Jason Alexander and Nelly. … Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack is standing behind me with the Jack Links Sasquatch. OK then. … The Poker Edge podcast has been posted. Listen to the Poker Edge Daily Podcast » 
1:29 p.m. ET: Welcome to the WSOP blog! For the next 14 days I'll be posting daily from Las Vegas, giving you a feel of what's going on inside the Rio during the 2009 WSOP main event. The action begins at 3 p.m. ET and I guess the first question of the day is how many players will show up. Last year we noticed two very small turnouts during Day 1A and Day 1B. Will the trend continue? I'm assuming so.
Believe it or not, there are still cash games going on right now. I would've thought that the tournament staff would've shut them down at this point, but there are still about four tables in action. In any case, the tournament staff is putting Everest Poker seat cushions on the players' chairs and the media is just starting to file in.
Although it took me awhile to get to Las Vegas yesterday (thanks O'Hare), it was a great day to be at the Rio. The Ante Up For Africa celebrity charity tournament had a great turnout with 138 players putting up the $5,000 entry fee. The winner was Aleksandr Bolotin and he donated a portion of his winnings to charity. Very generously, 17 out of 18 players who made the money did the same. Phil Gordon, host of the Poker Edge podcast, finished sixth! Yes, Phil Gordon at a poker table. Don't act that surprised.
"This is a fantastic opportunity to shed some light on a very serious issue," said Gordon. "Annie Duke and Don Cheadle have been extremely supportive about getting their friends together and to come out for a very worthy cause. I think this highlights that so many people from so many different walks of life come together and play poker at a high level."
I spoke to many of the celebrities on the soon-to-be-released Poker Edge podcast and of course, hanging out with Jason Alexander is always a good time.
"Why am I here?" said Alexander of the tournament yesterday. "Well, we haven't fixed it yet. It's still a mess. I believe when you start something you keep at it. I sometimes worry that good causes like this are overshadowed by celebrities and by poker. The trick when you do something like this is to stay informed about what you are playing for. This is for people who are literally starving. They are homeless. They are refugees. There is no education. There are no social services. And they have no voice. This is a real coup to have such a great cause right next to the greatest poker event in the world."
Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, Sarah Silverman, Dean Cain and Brad Garrett also put on a good show during the tournament. The event will air on ESPN later this summer.
After the Ante Up For Africa event I headed over to the Palms, where I got to see perhaps one of the coolest hotel rooms in the world. Bodog rented out the "Kingpin Suite," where there is actually a bowling alley. Quite cool. Bodog's players were on hand to talk poker to the qualifiers and it was a cool experience that I'm sure those Vegas rookies will never forget.
Small blinds: Ty Stewart, who handles a good amount of the business for the WSOP, was one of the people putting beef jerky and seat cushions out for every player. I joked with him, asking him about tough economic times, but as he said, hiring someone else would be more expensive than what he gets hourly. I think he's right. He never stops working. … The WSOP added some more sponsorship banners around the Amazon Room. Did you know there is an "Official Nut Bar of the WSOP"? Go figure … Nelly is going to be performing at the PokerStars players' party on July 9. He's been at the tables a lot this summer and I'm assuming a full celebrity sponsorship/endorsement is going to be announced soon. … Poker Palooza Day 1 was good to see. It's still smaller than in year's past, but had lots of vendors. …
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