Day 1 B WSOP (Update)

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1545 entrants for main event heat

The main event action at the World Series of Poker continued to climb as Day 1B attracted a field of 1 545, with a possible 1 600 or more players planned for Day 1 C.

And in Day 1A a 1 287 player turnout was disappointingly lower than the previous year's 3 000 registrations when play commenced, with 837 players eliminated by the early hours of the following morning after around 16 hours of tough poker action, leaving 450 hopefuls to go through to the next round.

Tinten Olivier has the top chip stack from Day 1A on 270 500, with his nearest rival John Dutchak on 209 600. It was a hard day for many celebrities, with poker pro Barry Greenstein one of the few poker stars to finish high on the list in Day 1A. Former World Champions Bobby Baldwin and Huck Seed also survived Day 1A, but with limited chips. Television celebrity Brad Garrett of "Everybody loves Raymond" fame also survived with a $70,000 chip stack, and movie Spiderman Tobey McGuire made it through as well.

Players have the option of four starting days - 1A through 1D - on registration, and many make the choice a strategic decision, says WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. "It's a combination of strategy and choice," he says.

Day 1B is now in progress and the player list includes experienced hands like former World Champions Dan Harrington, Joe Hachem, Tom McEvoy and Scotty Nguyen. Also playing are celebrities Montel Williams, Norm MacDonald, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, Paul Wasicka, Robert Mizrachi, Patrik Antonius, Tony G, Bill Chen, Sam Farha and David Williams.