2011 World Series of Poker: Day 1 of the $50K Player's Championship

The $50,000 Player’s Championship ended its usual slow and lackluster day 1 early Sunday morning at the Rio Hotel and Casino, as just five were eliminated out of the 128 that entered.

The field size increased from last year’s 116 total, marking a two-year spike in attendance after 2008’s all-time low of 95 players. The event began as the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E back in 2006 before being tweaked and renamed last year.

The event, which is the largest buy-in tournament at this summer’s World Series of Poker, has created a prize pool of $6.144 million, and $1.72 million of that purse will go to the champion after a fifth day of play.

Notables who ended the day with significantly more than the 150,000-chip starting stack include Greg Mueller (323,000), David Chiu (317,000), 2008 champ David Bach (250,000), and Steve Billirakis (240,000). Players who dusted off $50,000 on day 1 despite the event’s super deep eight-game mix structure include Jani Sointula, Andrew Pantling, Arturo Diaz, Eli Elezra, and Phil Laak, who has endured a dismal Series by barely missing two final tables in addition to his early exit in the Player’s Championship.

Last year’s champion Michael Mizrachi, who suffered a brutal runner-up finish in the $2,500 Omaha/seven-card stud eight-or-better just a few days ago, barely survived with a stack of 8,200. 2008 champion Scotty Nguyen and 2007 winner Freddy Deeb did not compete this year.

Despite rumors circulating in the poker poker world suggesting Phil Ivey might play, the eight-time bracelet winner was also a no-show. Ivey, who recently withdrew his lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker, had previously said that he would not attend any events this summer. It remains unclear if his self-exclusion from the Series will change as the company makes what appears to be definitive progress towards cashing out $150 million in frozen player funds.

Stay tuned to Card Player for more updates from tomorrow’s 3 p.m. restart.

For all of the latest WSOP information, check out Card Player’s WSOP landing page.

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