WSOP Main Event 2015 Gets Underway With Lower Turnout

This year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event has officially gotten underway in Las Vegas. There was a lower than expected turnout for the first starting flight of the event, which took place on Sunday night.

Just 741 players showed up for Day 1A, which was the lowest showing for the WSOP Main Event’s first starting flight in 13 years. However, the turnout was just 30 less than Day 1A in last year’s Main Event, so event organisers are not likely to be too worried by the number.

Day 1A also took place the day following the US’s Independence Day, which famously falls on the fourth of July. That may have kept a lot of the American players away, at least until the later starting flights, as some of them may have wanted to recover from Saturday’s festivities.

The turnouts on Day 1B and Day 1C of this year’s event will be a greater gauge as to whether there is a declining trend in player numbers as turnout on those flights usually number in thousands.

William Kakon ended Day 1A at the top of the chip count ladder with a stack of 152,325 to his name. That was only a few thousand more than the second largest chip holder, Gjergj Sinishtaj, who ended up bagging 149,100 chips.

Those stacks are more than respectable, especially in a tournament like the WSOP Main Event. However, they are likely to be further down the overall chip ladder once all starting flights have been played due to the larger fields – and more chips in play – that are likely to turn out on Days 1B and 1C.

A number of famous poker names took part on Day 1A, including Mike Matusow, 2010 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel and Dario Sammartino, all of whom made the cut to Day 2 of the event. On the other side of the spectrum, Erik Seidel and Billy Baxter were some of the big names who were knocked out of the Day 1A.

Day 1B had also just gotten underway at the time of this article’s writing. While there was not a confirmed turnout number or complete chip counts at the time of writing, it was confirmed that famous players like Jeff Lisandro, Jason Mercier, Todd Brunson and 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker were some of the players who turned out on the day.

Australian cricket legend Shane Warne was another famous face who has turned out for the second starting flight.