The 2023 WSOP Main Event is underway and the first four flights of Day 1 are complete. There's approximately 9,337 entrants in this year's Main Event which broke the attendance record that was set in 2006 with 8,776 runners. Main Event Day 2ABC begins on Friday, and Day 2D is set for Saturday. Nicholas Rigby aka Dirty Diaper bagged the overall lead with 408,800 in chips after a sick run on Day 1D.
The 2023 WSOP Main Event is also known as Event #76 $10,000 NL Main Event Championship. The marquee and flagship event has four starting flights this year along with two Day 2s. The suits running the WSOP have been trying to chase their high-water mark which was set in 2006 when Jamie Gold won the Main Event. The 2006 Main Event was in the middle of the glorious online poker boom, and they set a record that year with 8,776 entrants. It took 17 years, but the 2006 record was finally broken thanks to the numbers on Day 1D which put the 2023 Main Event over the top.
Day 1A of the Main Event attracted 896 runners, which was considered a good start by talking heads and the poker media. Only 810 players survived the first flight.
Yehuda Dayan from Israel bagged the chip lead at the end of Day 1A with 389,900. Japan's Shota Nakanishi was second overall with 360K. Hai-Chi Ho, from China (297,400), American pro Doug Polk (281,900), and Neville Costa (275,000) from Brazil rounded out the Top 5 from Day 1A.
2006 Main Event champ Jamie Gold bagged 163K, but he wasn't the only other former champs who made the cut on the opening day. 2014 champ Martin Jacobson (154K), 2009 Main Event champ Joe Cada (115K), and 2020 champ Damian Salas bagged up chips on Day 1A.
Among the noteworthy Day 1A survivors with a big stack (with at least 100K plus) included Faraz Jaka, Erik Friberg, Bin Weng, Lei Lei, Maxime Chilaud, Johnny World, Dominik Nitsche, Kyna England, Harrison Gimbel, Bobby Bellande, Jack Salter, Juha Helppi, Brian Hastings, Tommy Pham, Tony Dunst, Jack Sinclair, Sean Winter, Aaron Massey, Clayton Maguire, and Barny Boatman. Other notables who made the cut included Shaun Deeb, Jim McManus, David Peters, Pierre Fromage, Jack Schindler, Max Pescatori, Ramon Colillas, Esther Taylor-Brady, Sam Stein, Asher Conniff, Rainer Kempe, Kevin MacPhee, Johannes Becker, and Bruno Fitoussi.
Day 1B of the Main Event attracted 1,118 runners and 819 players advanced to Day 2.
South Africa's Jean-Pierre van der Spuy bagged the chip lead with 287,000. French pro Julien Martini was second in chips with 286K. Rounding out the Top 5 were Yuze Ding (284K), Gar Cheung (281K), and Andrew Graham (277K).
Two former Main Event champs played in Day 1B and both survived including 2004 champ Greg Raymer and two-time champ Johnny Fucking Chan.
Among the notables who survived Day 1B included Patrik Antonius, Anatoly Filatov, Chris Brewer, Ike Haxton, Jason Koon, Scott Seiver, Dinesh Alt, Jeff Lisandro, Matt Glantz, Andy Frankenberger, Dietrich Fast, Gary Benson, David Bach, Kenny Hallaert, Greg Mueller, John Duthie, Chainsaw Kessler, Jason Koon, Jordan Morgan, Adrian Mateos, Kenneth Powers, Naoya Kihara, Seth Davies, Angel Garcia, Barry Shulman, Taylor Paur, and Tony Cousineau.
Day 1C attracted approximately 3,080 runners and 2,326 players survived the cut.
Christopher Brammer bagged the chip lead on the third flight with 386,100. Michael Banducci (292,600), Larry Chang (280,900), Roman Valerstein (273,300), and Mike Pinto (266,600) round out the Top 5 for Day 1C.
Five more former Main Event champions played on Day 1C and made the cut. That includes 2015 champ Joe McKeehen (111,500), 1983 champ om McEvoy (90,400), 2017 champ Scott Blumstein (71,900), defending champ Espen Jorstad (62,000), and 2013 champ Ryan Reiss (68,100).
Man City stud Sergio Aguero found a stack on Day 1C and he'll return for Day 2. Other notables who survived Day 1C included
Connor Drinan, Walt Becker, Josh Arieh, Mustpha Kanit, Phil Lakk, Stevie Chidwick, Todd Brunson, Ronnie Bardah, Bryce Yockey, Fabian Quoss, Kyle Bowker, Todd Witteles, Brandon Adams, Shannon Shorr, Mike Matusow, Brian Rast, Benjamin Pollak, Sylvain Loosli, Melanie Weisner, Dan Shak, Peter Jetten, Brock Wilson, Niall Farrell, Christoph Vogelsang, Ben Yu, Alexandre Reard, Stuart Rutter, Eric Baldwin, Chris Bell, and Andy Bloch.
The huge crowd on Day 1D put the 2023 WSOP Main Event over the top to break the 2006 record. They attracted 4,100-plus entrants on the fourth and final flight, which included hijinks from Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth put on another one of his redonkulous entrances but this year he was dressed as a circus ringleader and Dan 'Jungleman' Cates was decked out in a lion costume with intricate makeup.
Nicholas 'Dirty Diaper' Rigby bagged the lead on Day 1D with 408,800. The Top 5 from Day 1D includes Brittney Stout (375K), Neel Murthy (323K), Chris Hunichen (321K), and Carlos Levia (318K).
Several former Main Event champions were in action on Day 1D and Hossein Ensan failed to make the cut. Joe Hachem, Qui Nguyen, Chris Moneymaker, Phil Hellmuth, and Scotty Nguyen are all still alive and advanced to Day 2.
Other noteworthy players in action on Day 1D who advanced to Day 2 included... Chance Kornuth, Men the Master, Ari Engel, Theo Tran, Wing Liu, Allen Le, Maurice Hawkins, Kalidou Sow, Dylan Linde, Jameson Painter, Anthony Zinno, Punnat Punsri, Kathy Liebert, Viktor Blom, Kenna James, James Obst, Dan Smith, John Racener, The Grinder, Robert Mizrachi, Vinny Pahuja, Christian Harder, Stan Lee, and Chino Rheem.
