2:52pm: (PN) All the overflow areas were in play at the Rio for Day 1D of the WSOP Championship Event, as 2,461 players took the field. With registration officially closed for the event, the total number of 2008 WSOP Championship entrants climbed to 6,844, the second largest WSOP Main Event field in history. The winner will take home $9,119,517 and the top 666 players will see a payday.

While the previous Day 1 flights got serenaded prior to play, Day 1D players got a political announcement, albeit one of interest. Congressman Robert Wexler spoke about the congressional efforts to revoke the UIGEA, before delivering the words the field came to Vegas for: “Players… shuffle up and deal!”

Representing 40 WSOP bracelets between them, former WSOP Champions Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Ferguson, Noel Furlong, Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang chose Day 1D to play. They were joined by many other notables, including Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Allen Cunningham, Hevad Khan, Jennifer Harman, Alan “BodogAri” Engel, Kirill Gerasimov, Howard Lederer, Barbara Enright, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Steve Dannenmann, Phil Gordon, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and tournament director Matt Savage.

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