Day 1C, the third of three starting days of the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship, has ended after five complete levels of play. Here's a look at the many highlights of the day, including an overview of the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tourney as we now prepare to head into Day Two:
THE OFFICIAL NUMBERS ARE INThe 2013 WSOP Main Event drew 6,352 players. This number is roughly consistent with participation in recent years:2012 – 6,5982011 – 6,8652010 – 7,3192009 – 6,4942008 – 6,844The total prize pool amounts to $59,788,800. The top 648 finishers will collect prize money. The new World Champion – to be crowned in November – will collect $8,359,531 in prize money.Monday's playing session was the largest single starting day in the 44-year history of the Main Event. No other day has attracted as many players. Day 1C drew a record 3,467 players, besting last year's record of 3,418. The previous two days, 1A and 1B drew 943 and 1,942 entries, respectively.Overall, the 79,471 entries in 62 combined gold bacelet events established a new all-time in participants, which is 5 percent higher than the previous high mark (75,672 players) set in 2011. This year's series also generated the second-largest total prize pool across events, at $197,041,468. THE DREAM IS OVER EARLYEvery player comes to the Main Event with the dream of winning. Unfortunately, from the first hand dealt, everyone is at peril. Day 1C was not so kind to a number of familiar names.Past World Champions who hit the felt over the course of Day 1C included Huck Seed (1996), Jonathan Duhamel (2010), and Robert Varkonyi (2002). Other notables who exited early included -- Ylon Schwartz, Bill Chen, Loni Harwood, Prahlad Friedman, Jeff Madsen, Jennifer Tilly, Shaun Deeb, Fabrice Soulier, Keith Lehr, Tom Schneider, and Phil Laak.
CHIP LEADERSThe Day 1C and overall chip leader at the moment is Mark Kroon, from Madison, Wisconsin. The veteran tournament grinder seized the top spot on the final hand of the night, just prior to the recess in action. Kroon is no stranger to success in the Main Event. He's cashed twice previously. Kroon's big final hand at the end of Day 1C eclipsed what had been a huge day of domination by Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, a three-time gold bracelet winner, as well as Imari Love, who also made a deep run in the 2010 Main Event and built up a big stack today.
Of the 3,467 players who played this Day 1C, 2,306 made the cut to the following day of play. Aside from Kroon and Mizrachi, some of the other big names who enjoyed above-average days included Freddy Deeb (120,525), Phil Ivey (119,650), Vanessa Selbst (115,225), Phil Hellmuth (92,850), Allen Cunningham (63,250), 2005 World Champ Joe Hachem (67,950), 1987 Wolrd Champ Tom McEvoy (62,300), and Matt Matros (51,850).
Here is a look at the official top ten chip stacks from the end of Day 1C:
1. Mark Kroon - 246,900
2. Imari Love - 214,300
3. Karlo Lopez - 196,550
4. Michael Mizrachi - 176,100
5. Frederik Jensen - 169,975
6. Muhammed Abdel Rahim - 163,075
7. Marc Carpenterperrault - 155,250
8. Josh Pollock - 154,025
9. Dinesh Alt - 151,400
10. Sameer Aljanedi - 150,200
And here's a look at the overall top ten across all three Day 2 fields:
1. Mark Kroon - 246,900
2. Imari Llove - 214,300
3. Clement Tripodi - 207,050
4. Karlo Lopez - 196,550
5. Evan Panesis - 190,975
6. Jevon Lam - 189,2507. Daniel Cates - 188,425
8. Nicholas Crisp - 184,075
9. Abdulaziz Almashal - 180,575
10. Robert Russ - 176,650
Full chip counts for all players are available at
WSOP.com.