Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel survived Day1B. But can he replicate his 1988 success? (Image: WSOP)

Two days are now in the books at the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event, and the flood of players has not slowed down since cards went in the air on Wednesday. The Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas have been a beehive of activity, with nearly 2000 players now in the books for the preeminent tournament in poker. A few storylines have also begun to emerge, both on the good side – familiar pros making a run to the gold – and the bad – heading to the rail. 

Building Toward Feverish Next Couple of Days

The cash cage at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas was abuzz with players ponying up their $10,000 for entry into the World Championship for the game of poker (the World Poker Tour might balk at the label, but that is a discussion for another time). However, Thursday’s Day 1B turned out to be a bit smaller than its Day 1A counterpart. These numbers should rectify themselves over the next couple of days as the players wait to take their stab at poker’s biggest prize.

“Only” 830 players (estimated until final official numbers from WSOP officials) came to the tables for action on Day 1B. That was slightly under the 916 who stepped into the breech for Wednesday’s opening flight of action. What is interesting is that a similar number of players would survive the smaller Day 1B battleground compared to Day 1A; unofficially, 616 players made it through the minefield on Day 1B, compared to the 620 who will join them on the tables when they combine for play.

This might be concerning for WSOP and Caesars officials as the numbers are a little off pace from what happened in 2023’s record-breaking tournament. At this time in 2023, the WSOP Championship Event had racked up over 2,500 entries. Currently, the field total sits at 1746 players, but the chances for a massive expansion of the field are more than possible. In 2023, roughly 7,000 players hit the tables for Days 1C and 1D and, with late registration open until the second level of Day 2D, this year’s field will at the minimum get close to what stepped up in 2023.

Good News, Bad News for Poker Notables

The day would get off to a great start for a man celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his greatest poker title. 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer stepped on the WSOP stage to offer up his thoughts and the traditional “Shuffle up and deal” call that officially started the Day 1B action. For Raymer, however, that’s where the good feelings would end as he would struggle throughout the Thursday action before finally succumbing after the dinner break when his Jacks were mercilessly crushed by pocket Aces. 

There was also another addition to the club that nobody wanted to be a part of – The First Handers Club, for players eliminated on the first hand of the day. In this case, two players saw a 5♠ 7x 6♠ flop that put plenty of combinations in play (potential flush draws, possible straight on the flop being the best two). A 10♠ put a flush potential to reality, but neither player would slow down their action in firing chips to the center. An eight on the river did not seem to change anything, but one player would fire in the rest of his stack on the first hand of play. The second player slowed down, checked his hand, and made the call with his A♠ K♠, good for the nut flush and the knockout on the first hand of Thursday’s play (for the historical record, the losing player held pocket nines to river a losing straight).

On the good side of the ledger, one of poker’s venerable legends demonstrated why he is still one of the most feared players in the game. Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel battled through the Day 1B field, more than tripling up his 60K starting stack into a 183,600 mountain of chips. Seidel was the beneficiary of some luck, as all players need to dive deep in a large field, when his pocket Kings flopped a set against pocket Aces late in the evening.

With this said, Seidel’s stack pales when compared to the Day 1B leaders. Assuming the overall lead of the first two days is George Dolofan, who garnered 314,000 chips in total to snatch the top slot from Day 1A chip leader Joshua Feiger (311,900). With massive numbers of players expected to come out for the final two flights on Friday and Saturday, these numbers only mean that the players will be in a good position for the start of action on Sunday, when the players from Days 1A, 1B, and 1C will reconvene in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to continue the festivities of the 2024 World Series of Poker Championship Event.