Shuffle up and Deal: Cards are in the Air for the Big One for One Drop

Poker fans, poker media and players have been anxiously awaiting the start of the Big One for One Drop tournament, and the wait is finally over. Couple hours ago, the opening ceremony took place and some minutes later, cards were finally in the air to start the action.

Players will be going to their dinner break soon, after which the registration for the event will close. As the things stand right now, there are 42 players who parted with $1,000,000 in order to take their shot at glory and riches. The way things are looking right now, the event will not hit its cap of 56 players.

Sam Trickett is doing very well, as he managed to spin his 3 million chips starting stack to 8 million and has actually knocked out a player within the first hour of the play. The unpleasant honor went to David Einhorn.

Apart from Trickett, most of those expected to be here are here, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, reigning champion of the event Antonio Esfandiari, Greg Merson, 2012 Main Event winner etc. In fact, there may be only couple names in the room that do not ring the bell after the first mention. Vanessa Selbst is the first female player in this event. The man who is responsible for this tournament, Guy Laliberte, is in the mix as well, and his One Drop Foundation will be receiving a very sizable donation to help the areas lacking clean water.

Last one to join so far was Gabe Kaplan who was uncertain on whether to play or not until the tournament started, but then late-registered and joined the action. On the other hand, Phil Hellmuth, whose presence was sort of expected, did not show up yet. His Twitter indicates that he might still be joining, but it seems he is looking to raise $600,000 in about 90 minutes, so we will not be holding our breaths.

Two players earned their seats through the last night’s $25,000 satellite, those being Erick Lindgren and Connor Drinan, while JC Tran fell just short and finished up in third position.

The action will certainly be picking up some pace as the blinds go up, and in couple days, the winner will be crowned. Can The Magician defend his title, or someone else will be taking his place? For now, it seems that Trickett means business and if cards go his way, he certainly has the skills!