The 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event continues at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas with 5,315 runners taking a shot in the first five flights and only 3,917 of those surviving and advancing to Day 2. The sixth and final flight of the 2021 WSOP Main Event begins at noon on Tuesday with Day 1F expected to have a large field. At the same time, Day 2 begins on Tuesday for flights 1A, 1B, and 1D.
The most prestigious single tournament in the universe is the World Series of Poker Main Event Championship, which has had a $10,000 buy-in since the earliest days at Benny Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. This year's Main Event was broken up into six flights with a Day 1F added after the United States allowed international travels to enter the country officially as of yesterday, which meant that pros from Europe did not have to take an end around and travel to the USA via Mexico, Central America, or South America.
The final flight of the WSOP Main Event is typically the largest with last-min satellite stragglers, pros, and other late bloomers arriving to play at the last possible moment. So far, this year's numbers in the Main Event are down, which was expected in the era of COVID and due to the WSOP's strict vaccination protocols in which only vaxxed players could patriciate in the WSOP.
So far, through the first five flights, there are 5,315 entrants in the 2021 WSOP Main Event. Approximately three-quarters of the field remains with 3,917 runners bagging chips and advancing to Day 2. In total, 26.3% of the field was wiped out on the first day of action.
Day 1D on Sunday attracted the largest field in the first five flights with 2,550 entrants or nearly 3x as the second-highest flight of Day 1B with 84 entrants. Day 1A last week attracted only 523 entrants and 348 of those bagged chips and survived the first wave of bustouts.
Day 2 is split into two fields with flights 1A, 1B, and 1D playing in the first Day 2 aka Day 2ABD. The second Day 2 field will be made up of flights 1C, 1E, and 1F for Day 2CEF. It sounds a little confusing at first glance, but the folks at WSOP HQ crunched the numbers and determined it would create a level Day playing field.
Italian pro Mustapha Kanit bagged 363K on Day 1A as the chip leader. He's hoping the early lead will not be the kiss of death. On Day 1A, Billy Baxter advanced with a healthy stack with 248K or sixth overall from the opening flight.
Steve Foutty bagged the lead from Day 1B with 287K. Aleksandr Shevlyakov was the big stack from Day 1C with 392K. Adedapo Ajayi led Day 1D with nearly 341K. Last night, David Gerassi was the Day 1E chip leader with 316K. Former champs Joe Hachem and Scott Blumstein advanced to Day 2 after staying alive after Day 1E.
2021 WSOP Main Event Numbers
TOTAL: 5,315 entrants, 3,917 remain
- Day 1A: 523 entrants, 348 alive
- Day 1B: 845 entrants, 611 alive
- Day 1C: 600 entrants, 433 alive
- Day 1D: 2,550 entrants, 1,933 alive
- Day 1E: 797 entrants, 593 alive
- Day 1F :TBD
