The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked of on Thursday with its Day 1A. It featured some big names being eliminated, and some big hands as well. The name that stood out among the rest after Day 1A was Fred Berger, as he was the chip leader to end the day with 209,500 chips. The hand that made Berger the undisputed chip leader came late in the day with less than 30 minutes remaining. Berger was in a big hand with Scott Montgomery, and the money was all in on the river as Berger held J/9 of hearts on an 8c 6h 2h Js Jc board, and Montgomery showed just a pair of eights. Berger now has a commanding lead going into Day 2A over the rest of Day 1A, with nearly 30k more chips than the second place player.
Day 1A of the Main Event featured 897 players, which is about 20% less than last year. Day 1A ended with 556 players who are moving on to Day 2. Some big names such as Johnny Chan, 2011 gold bracelet winner David Diaz, and 2010 Main Event final table participants Soi Nguyen and Filippio Candio made it through Day 1A. Some big names also were eliminated early though, as the likes of Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer, Jerry Yang, Matt Affleck, Josh Arieh, and Adam Levy were all eliminated. Brunson was originally up in the air about participating in the event, but in the end decided to enter the big one.
Jason Alexander was another big time story, as the former Seinfeld star had to compete against what was possibly the toughest tables from Day 1A. He started out against Annette Obrestad and Billy Baxter, and as that table was broken up early, he sat down with a table that would scare any amateur player. His next table included Matt Glantz, Barry Shulman, Vanessa Selbst and 1998 WSOP Main Event runner-up Kevin McBride. Alexander didn’t flinch though, as he finished the day with 63,150 chips, and even pulled off an elimination of Vanessa Selbst.
Day 1B will be played Friday, with Day’s 1C and 1D occurring on Saturday and Sunday. Monday will then feature the players who advanced from Day’s 1A and 1C to make Day 2A.