With a change in format from HORSE to an 8-Game Mix –including a final table of exclusively No Limit Holdem– the WSOP was able to get the $50k Players Championship back into the ESPN TV schedule. The higher-ups were hoping that the additional exposure for the event on ESPN would boost attendance numbers for the event, which dipped to just 95 players in 2009 –the tournament routinely drew in the around 150 players in previous years when it was shown on TV.

The 2010 tournament did see a rise in attendance, with 116 players anteing up the $50,000 buy-in, but still fell far short of previous years. One reason may be the more economical tournaments the WSOP has added contain a lot more dead money which might be a more attractive proposition to middle tier poker pros.

At the end of play on Day 1 –the event is scheduled for 4 days—110 players still remained in the running led by Erik Sagstrom. Since pretty much every player is notable all 6 players who were sent packing on Day 1 are recognizable names, but most notably were Tom Dwan and Brian Townsend.

Day 2 play will resume later today, and you can expect close to half the field to be eliminated, as well as a few players to start pulling away from the pack.


Tags: $50k Players Championship, 2010 WSOP, 2010 WSOP update, WSOP, WSOP News

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 10:47 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.