Registrations Up At World Series Of Poker

20 percent increase in entries for event so far….and the main event is yet to come. Official statistics from the 41st World Series of Poker currently running at the Rio in Las Vegas indicate that through the first 56 events, there have been 65,647 entries, surpassing last year's total entries including the main event of 60,875. And this year's main event registration numbers have yet to be recorded! Judging by the interest in the main event so far, the organisers expect another bumper registration field over the four Day 1 heats which started Monday with the Day 1a field already attracting 1,125 players. Last year's main event entries were lower than those in 2008, probably because of the depressed economic environment, but still reached 6,494 players, generating a $61,043,600 prize pool that enabled 648 entrants to cash. Winner Joe Cada collected a paycheck of $8,547,042 as the winner….and he's back for more this year. Monday saw the beginning, and the end, of the last of the preliminary events leading up to the main event. In event 54, the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em competition Dutch player Marcel Vonk outplayed a final table comprised of David Peters, Henrik Tollefsen, Nathan Jessen, Matthew Lupton, Dustin Dorrance-Bowman, Mehul Chaudhari, Paul Kerr and Espen Moen who returned for a fourth day of action on Monday afternoon as survivors of an original field of 3,844. Late Monday night Vonk finally dispatched his heads up opponent David Peters after a three-and-a-half hour roller coaster of a grand finale that saw the chip lead change several times. Vonk, who is something of a strategist and has authored several articles on the game, claimed his first WSOP bracelet and the main prize of $570,960, whilst his very worthy opponent collected a consolation second placing check for $350,803. After a protracted heads up that saw the final two contestants swopping the chip lead repeatedly and some very large pots, event 56, the $2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em competition and the last of the preliminary events came to a conclusion in the small hours of Monday morning after a hard four day slog. The nine players on the final table reconvened Monday afternoon to decide the issue, and by late that night Tomer Berda and Vladimir Kochelaevskiy had started a hard-fought heads up that was to last for several hours with extreme, multi-million chip swings in the fortunes of both. By level 33 and the early hours of the morning it was a wrap, with Tomar Berda taking his first bracelet and the main prize of $825,976 and his truly tough opponent heading to the cashier and a second place payout of $510,939. This event, like many at the WSOP, attracted some of the best players in the world. Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu and Ivan Demidov are just a few of the 1,941 players who started out initially but did not advance to the final table. Alfonso Amendola was the first of the final tablers to go, followed by Joseph Curcio and then Ali Alawadhi in the seventh spot. Hungcheng Hung fell in 6th and Mike Wattel managed to keep going on a short stack until be busted out at 5th, with Salvatore Bonavena joining him through the exit door in 4th. When Bryan Porter was eliminated in the number three spot for $353,260, it set the scene for a great heads up between Berda and Kochelaevskiy.