After fields of 1,400 people or less on Days 1A and 1B, Day 1C saw a jump in registered players and began with nearly 2,000 players--1,928 to be exact.
Brian "NeddyFlanders Garrett (pictured at right) is one of many players scattered throughout the massive Main Event field that is hoping to strike it big after qualifying through Ultimate Bet. Although he's playing in his first WSOP tournament, Garrett didn't feel the jitters that many first time entrants encounter.
"I wasn't really nervous at all to tell you truth," Garrett said. "I've played big live tournaments before like in Aruba and just recently in the L.A. Poker Classic." Garrett had 27k going into the last level of play but ran into a few tough spots that brought him down to 15k nearing the end of Day 1C. When he did pick up a hand with A-K, he ended up chopping with another player with the same hand in an all-in preflop pot. Either way, he said he's still hopefull that after another double up or two he'll be a threat again.
Another player who may not have ended the day with a big stack, but was making progress in the right direction was Russell “rdcrsn” Carson.. When we caught up with Russell’s table after they returned from the 90 minute dinnerbreak, it looked like he had picked up a more aggressive style of play than what we observed during earlier levels. This change of pace appeared to be working for him as he managed to take down small preflop pots uncontested. His stack made small gains, increasing from 19K to 25K in the first half of the level. By the end of the night he had worked his way up to 43K--over twice the stack he started with today.
Some players who missed their chance to double up include Jordan "scarface_79" Smith, who was eliminated midway through the day when his pocket queens ran into pocket kings. Ultimate Bet's Amit "amak316" Makhija also saw an early end to his Main Event. He spent the latter part of the day shortstacked and headed for the door after his flopped two pair failed to hold up against another player's straight draw.
Around 1,000 players from today will be returning on Wednesday to play in Day 1B. Rumors around the Rio suggest a large crowd of Day 1D players will be playing Sunday and attempting to make it through to join those who survived today. Stay tuned tomorrow to see just how many showed up and if any of them were turned away.
