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Saturday, July 5, 2008

2008 WSOP Day 37: Main Event Day 1b

The second day one of the 2008 WSOP of main event completed last night at 1:30 a.m. On top of the five levels of action, we also have an official 2008 WSOP Player of the Year.

Day 1b was the first time there has ever been a WSOP event playing on July 4th, making American flags both little and large a common site across the room.

E-Dog

Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren has won the 2008 WSOP Player of the Year. It's not much of a surprise considering he cashed in five different events including three final tables, one of those resulting in a Gold bracelet.

Even More Than Before

The day's announcement of "Shuffle Up and Deal" was made by last year's Main Event Champion Jerry Yang. Not long after this announcement (two hands in to be exact) was the day's first elimination seeing a player with Kings Full lose to Quad Nines.

Day 1a had a total of 1,297 players find their seats. Day 1b attracted 1,158 making the 2008 WSOP Main Event player count at 2,455. These numbers do not represent the actual total number who will play in the Main Event since registration remains open through the first two levels of play on Sunday.

Of the 1,158 players to start the day 615 finished with chips leaving 53% of the field in the running. The total players scheduled to play in Day 2a is officially at 1,251. Players have a three day break before Day 2a gets underway.

Day 1b ended with Ben Samoff as chip leader with 177,500 still behind Mark Garner (Day 1a) leaving Mark Garner as the current 2008 WSOP Chip Leader with 194,900 in chips.

Some Familiar Faces

As is the way with the WSOP Main Events, the field was peppered with familiar faces. On the main stage feature table Erick Lindgren could be found, while the secondary feature table saw Daniel Negreanu bust out after One hour 39 Min after losing set over set.

Day 1b saw four previous Main Event champions take their seats. Out of Tom McEvoy (1983), Robert Varkonyi(2002), Greg "Fossilman" Raymer(2004) and Jamie Gold (2006), only Varkonyi made the cut to day two.

Other professionals to make it to day two include: Robert Mizrachi, Erick Lindgren, Thor Hansen, Barney Boatman, Tony Hachem, Hoyt Corkins, Dave Colclough, Erick Seidel, Patrik Antonius, Chris Bjorin, "Captain" Tom Franklin, Kathy Liebert, Bill Edler, Mickey Appleman, Donnacha O'Dea, Steve Zolotow and Alex Kravchenko.

It is estimated that of the 2,455 players to have started, so far only 56 of them have been female. If the estimation is correct the WSOP female to male ratio will be similar to that of the previous few years, with female players making up 2-3% of the total field.

If you've ever been to Australia you'll be familiar with the name Shane Warne. Shane Warne is commonly referred to as the greatest, or one of the greatest players in the history of Cricket, making him an Australian superstar. This Oz star was one of the professional athletes to have played today, another being World Series (baseball) MVP and poker player Orel Hershiser.

Brazilian poker player Alexandre Gomes, the first WSOP Gold Bracelet winner from South America, played today. So did Andrew Schoepfer, who by turning 21 on the 4th of July is officially the youngest player ever to have participated in a WSOP event.

Finally, Hal Lubarsky, the first blind player to cash at the WSOP (197th place in the 2007 Main Event) ended the day with 70,700 in chips.

Stay Tuned

Day 1C is a few hours away from getting under-way. To keep up with all the action as it unfolds, keep your screen locked on our live updates section.