Thousands of hopeful rounders have swamped the Amazon Room at the Rio for the first of four Day 1s of this WSOP’s $10,000 buy-in flagship event.

And the pros are licking their chops.

“This is the biggest tournament of the year,” Full Tilt’s Gavin Smith told PokerListings.com. “This is the one I always look forward to!”

Irish pro Andy Black echoed Smith’s sentiments.

“It’s the biggest tournament in the world and the best one. It’s a great day, Day 1 of the Main Event.”

The tournament is expected to attract more than six thousand players in search of a multi-million dollar first prize and a shot at poker immortality.

Last year, Denmark’s Peter Eastgate defeated 6,843 other entrants to claim a $9,152,416 first prize.

In 2007, meanwhile, Jerry Yang came from nowhere to beat out 6,357 players, taking $8.25 million for first before disappearing from the poker landscape once more.

Yang is back for 2009 and told PokerListings he’s eager to reclaim the top spot.

“I’ve been waiting for so long, waiting for one year,” he said. “I’m going to play my best and see what happens.”

Neither Yang nor Eastgate’s purses hold a candle to the $12 million 2006 champ Jamie Gold earned for topping a field of more than 8,700 competitors.

But the former champs will have both have their work cut out for them if they want to make another deep run.

Since 2003, only Greg Raymer has been able to replicate his tournament-winning success in a later year, finishing 25th in the 2005 Main Event after winning in 2004.

Among those players to show up for Day 1a action are former L.A. Dodger Orel Hershiser, PokerListings blogger Jason Mercier, actors Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett and rapper Nelly.

This year’s Main Event will see the field divided into four flights on Day 1 and two flights on Day 2, with the survivors coming together for the first time on Day 3 next Friday.

Tournament organizers have tweaked the structure and given players 30,000 in chips compared to last year’s 20,000, but despite the deeper stacks the field will only play four two-hour levels on Day 1.

As in 2008, the Main Event will play down to a nine-handed final table before the tournament is suspended until November.

The new “November Nine” will then reconvene at the Rio to play out the tournament’s climactic hands in what promises to be another raucous spectacle of an event.

PokerListings.com will have live and comprehensive coverage of the 2009 Main Event in the WSOP section.

Tune in throughout the tournament for live updates, chip counts, video features and cutting-edge blogs from the Rio.

Visit PokerListings.com

Excerpt from:
Pros gear up for 2009 WSOP Main Event

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1. Money talks on Day 4 of 2009 WSOP Main Event
2. Eastgate dethroned at 2009 WSOP Main Event
3. Déjà vu at the 2009 WSOP Main Event
4. Yang says Cada got lucky to win WSOP Main Event
5. Gus Hansen talks WSOP Main Event 2009

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