Considering the Day 1a turnout of 310 players at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event nearly eclipsed the old attendance record of 362 entrants, the decision to move the WSOPE from London, England (not widely regarded as the most hospitable climate in the world during mid-October) to Cannes, France on the French Riviera is looking like pure genius.

Even though Day 1b of the tournament saw a smaller field than Day 1a, the 283 entrants on Sunday easily surpassed the old attendance record, and put the total number of entrants at just under 600, 593 to be precise.

The huge turnout will see the winner of the tournament walk away with a massive €1.4 million in first-place prize-money, not to mention the honor of being crowned the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event Champion.

There were a number of big name players who excelled on their Day 1 starting flight:

Day 1a saw Chris Moorman, Darren Elias, Leo Boxell, Emil Patel, Johnny Chan, Ben Lamb, Carlos Mortensen, Will Failla and Chad Brown accumulate over 100k chips.

While Tommy Vedes, Alexander Kostritsyn, Robert Mizrachi, McLean Karr, Victor Ramdin and Tony G all surpassed the 100k chip mark on Day 1b.

In all, 64 players will make the money, with a min-cash worth €20,000, which will likely occur sometime on Day 3 of the tournament.

Tags: Attendance Record, Cannes France, Carlos Mortensen, Chad Brown, Chris Moorman, Elias, Emil, French Riviera, Hospitable Climate, Johnny Chan, Karr, London England, main event, prize money, robert mizrachi, Vedes, Victor Ramdin, World Series of Poker, WSOP, wsope

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