Welcome to poker's Christmas morning, as today marks the start of the greatest tournament on the face of the planet — the World Series of Poker Main Event!
Every year, thousands of poker players take to the felt inside with dreams of becoming the next great champion of this event, but there can only be one. Along the way, many dreams will be shattered, hopes dashed and bankrolls crushed, but heading into Day 1, every single person entering the field is bursting with excitement while doing best to maintain the butterflies in their stomachs.
Last year, Greg Merson defeated a field of 6,598 players en route to winning the $8,531,853 top prize. He'll be in action on Day 1a and eyeing the immaculate feat of going back to back in such a difficult and grueling event.
Over the course of the next 10 days, all eyes in the poker world will be fixed solely on this one event — the Main Event — and it is PokerNews' pleasure once again to be the ones providing the official live updates. The cards will be in the air shortly, with things kicking off at 12 p.m. See you shortly!
Greg Merson addresses the players in the 2013 Main Event
"Good afternoon and welcome to the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event!" announced Jack Effel as he took the stage located in the Amazon Room directly in front of what has become known as the Mother Ship.
Effel began his announcements with firstly asking for a round of applause for everyone that has come to play here at the WSOP before raffling off the rules that everyone is to abide by. Effel then handed the microphone to Ty Stewart.
"Thirty-seven people have won the Main Event before. The names are iconic. Moss. Brunson. Unger. A young man from Maryland emphatically added his name to that list!" announced Stewart before footage began rolling of Greg Merson's final hand against runner-up Jesse Sylvia to see him crowned 2012 WSOP Champion and also Player of the Year.
Merson then took the stage before announcing, "I don't really want to give a long speech because every year I come I hate hearing long speeches. Players good luck, and dealers shuffle up and deal!"
"Seat open on 407!" bellowed the table 407 dealer.
Our PokerNews reporter rushed over to the table to see if he could get any details, and on spotting the three-seat sitting with over 50,000 in chips he asked him for the details. Unfortunately that player couldn't speak English so two players on the table helped give us the rundown on the hand.
Mark Jeffreys opened and then another player three-bet before Angel Funes Rios flatted next to act. Jeffreys pushed out a four-bet totalling 2,000 to force the initial three-bettor out as Rios came along.
The flop fell and Jeffreys checked before Rios continued with a bet only to have Jeffreys check-raise. Rios called and when the turn landed the , Jeffreys tapped the table again with Rios firing out another bet. Jeffreys responded with yet another check-raise and Rios called as the river blanked out.
Jeffreys checked for a third time before Rios bet out only to have Jeffreys now check-raise all-in. Rios called and tabled his which was enough to take the pot once Jeffreys tabled his .
Following the triple check-raise with his pocket queens, Jeffreys is the first casualty here on Day 1a.
Eric Froehlich has been ranked as the best Magic the Gathering player in the world, but today he is hoping to reach the pinnacle in another strategy based card game.
We caught the man known as "E-Fro" involved in an early pot, as he limped in and then called a raise of 300. When the dealer fanned the flop, Froehlich check-called a bet of 550, bringing the to the table on the turn.
Another check by Froehlich prompted a bet of 1,300 by his opponent, and once again the two-time bracelet winner flatted.
Both players tapped the table on the river, and Froehlich rolled over the for a flopped pair of jacks. His opponent mucked, and Froehlich chipped up a bit to begin the day.
The Main Event is now heading on it's first 20-minute break for the day.
Following a few words by Jack Effel and Ty Stewart, it would be reigning Champion Greg Merson giving the orders to shuffle up and deal before he took his seat just a few feet away from a table that housed 2011 Champion Pius Heinz.
As players settled in to the tournament playing their first few hands with some nervous energy, excitement and maybe a little bit of feat, the tournament would unfortunately lose Mark Jeffreys roughly an hour into play. Jeffreys check-raised every street holding but would be called down by Angel Funes Rios with to become the first elimination of Day 1a.
PokerNews' own Chad Holloway would see his stack dip severely early when he ran a bluff against Eddie Blumenthal to put him high up on the leaderboard alongside the likes of Rios, Greg Ostrander, Ben Wilinofsky and Tony Dunst.
With players now enjoying a 20-minute break to stretch their legs, grab a coffee or fill their belly, you at home can do the same while watching our July 6th update recorded by Lynn Gilmartin late last night.
Ronnie Bardah seated at the main feature table to begin the 2013 WSOP Main Event
Ronnie Bardah won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 2012 when he took down the $2,500 Limit Hold'em — Six-Handed event for $182,088. Here in the Main Event this year, Bardah has already doubled his stack and will be eyeing a return to the money for another deep run.
Bardah started his double-up hand off by opening under the gun to 300 just before Level 1 came to a close. After two players called, 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada reraised to 1,200 from the hijack seat. Play folded back to Bardah, and he called. The next player called, then the third player reraised to 4,500. Cada folded, Bardah flatted, and the other player folded. This left heads-up action to the flop, which came down rainbow.
After Bardah checked the flop, his opponent fired in a bet of 5,000. Bardah check-raised to approximately 23,000 and was all in. His opponent called. Bardah rolled over and was beating his opponent's .
A on the turn and a on the river kept Bardah's kings in front, and he doubled up.
Bardah has had a lot of success in the WSOP Main Event over the past few years. He's cashed in 2010, 2011 and 2012, so hitting the money this year would be his fourth consecutive year doing so. The scores for each of those years were $317,161 (24th place), $27,103 (453rd place) and $21,707 (540th place), respectively.
On the flop, John "World" Hennigan led out for a bet of 1,100, and then called when his opponent raised it up to 3,100.
The arrived on the turn, prompting Hennigan to slow down with a check. His opponent tossed out a bet of 3,600, and Johnny World flatted to see the drop on the river.
With that being a scare card in a number of ways, the experienced pro quickly moved 12,000 into the pot, and his opponent dove deep into the tank, thinking things over for around three minutes before releasing his hand.
With the board reading by the turn, a player in the small blind bet 1,200, and Eddie Blumenthal made it 3,350 to play.
His opponent flatted the raise and the river fell , prompting the small blind player to tap the table for a check. Blumenthal paused for a moment before moving a bet of 5,700 into the middle, and his opponent decided to look the pro up.
Blumenthal rolled over the with a flourish, and his boat was big enough to ship the pot.
Soi Nguyen Tried to Get a Little Too Slick With His Suited Big Slick
We passed by the table where T.J. Cloutier and Mike Matusow are now sitting, and overheard Cloutier laughing a bit about a previous hand.
"He only played every hand for two hours...," said Cloutier in his famous Southern drawl. "Of course he gets 250 big blinds in before the flop and busts."
With Gal Erlichman quietly stacking a tower of orange T5000 tournament chips a few seats over, and adding them to an already expansive chip castle, it soon became apparent that Erlichman had stacked an unfortunate player, and the victim turned out to be 2010 November Niner Soi Nguyen.
According to Erlichman, the action started when a player opened for 500, and two others flatted the raise. Erlichman woke up with , and three-bet to 2,300.
This pressure folded the original raiser, but Nguyen four-bet to 9,300. When the action folded back to him, Erlichman jammed for the rest of his stack, and Nguyen called off with the .
Despite finding a premium hand, Nguyen was utterly dominated by Erlichman's rockets, and when the flop brought the case ace to the board, Nguyen's Main Event came to an abrupt end.
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
we found Rep Porter tossing in an orange 5,000-denomination chip while announcing a bet of 4,000.
for a flopped set and his opponent casually flashed his 
and threw them into the muck.
and Jeffreys checked before Rios continued with a bet only to have Jeffreys check-raise. Rios called and when the turn landed the 
, Jeffreys tapped the table again with Rios firing out another bet. Jeffreys responded with yet another check-raise and Rios called as the river blanked out.
flop, Froehlich check-called a bet of 550, bringing the 
river, and Froehlich rolled over the 
for a flopped pair of jacks. His opponent mucked, and Froehlich chipped up a bit to begin the day.
rainbow.
on the river kept Bardah's kings in front, and he doubled up.
flop, John "World" Hennigan led out for a bet of 1,100, and then called when his opponent raised it up to 3,100.
arrived on the turn, prompting Hennigan to slow down with a check. His opponent tossed out a bet of 3,600, and Johnny World flatted to see the 
drop on the river.
by the turn, a player in the small blind bet 1,200, and Eddie Blumenthal made it 3,350 to play.
with a flourish, and his boat was big enough to ship the pot.
