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It took three days, three flights, and about 39 hours at the Rio, but Day 1 of the 2012 World Series of Poker has finally come to a close.

As we mentioned a bit earlier tonight, entry numbers were a bit lower this year than last (267 players lower, in fact) but the 2012 WSOP Main Event still managed to lock up a spot as the fifth largest in history. In total 6,598 people entered. The Main Event will pay out 666 players (yes, seriously). The winner will pick up more than $ 8.2 million.

The PokerStars stable still has an entire ranch of horses stil in play. At the top of the pack are superstars Vanessa Selbst and Daniel Negreanu, Here’s who they’ll be leading from Team PokerStars Pro and Team PokerStars Online in the march to Day 2 (we’ll have full chip counts for them when the official counts are released by the WSOP).

Moving on to Day 2: Pius Heinz, David Williams, Chad Brown, Marcin Horecki, Vicky Coren. Jan Heitmann, Matthias de Meulder, Liv Boeree, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Selbst, Eugene Katchalov, Richard Toth, Mikhail Shalamov, Salvatore Bonavena, George Danzer, Toni Judet, Martin Staszko.Christiphe de Meulder, Jason Mercier, Randy Lew, Shane Schleger, Angel Guillen, Joe Cada, Fredy Torres, Arnaud Mattern, Marcel Luske, and Dario Minieri.

Vanessa Selbst, leading Team Pro into Day 2 (photo by Neil Stoddart)While our attention will be on those names above in the coming days, we can’t close out Day 1 without bidding a final farewell to the PokerStars crew that didn’t make it through their flight. Among them is Jonathan Duhamel, the 2010 champion who spent his day at a feature table and getting a replacement WSOP bracelet.

Eliminated: Ivan Demidov, Luca Pagano, Pierre Neuville, Victor Ramdin, ElkY, Dag Palovic, Vanessa Rousso, Theo Jorgensen, Alex Kravchenko, Gabe Nassif, Mickey Petersen, Victor Ramdin, Ville Wahlbeck, Chris Moneymaker, Jonathan Duhamel, Ana Marquez, George Lind, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Max Martinez, Nacho Barbero, Viktor Blom, Andre Akkari, Juan Manuel Pastor, and Leo Fernandez.

Chris Moneymaker, eliminated on Day 1C (photo by Joe Giron)If you missed the rest of our stories from the day, here are a few highlights:

Exactly the same just bigger

Heart

Doing things differently

Chasing Dolly

Tomorrow, the WSOP will try something a bit new. Days 1A and 1B will both return to the Rio to play Day 2, but they will not compete against each other. The remaining players from the two flights will be kept in their own rooms for the duration of the day. Then, on Wednesday, today’s Day 1C flight will come back and play its Day 2. Thursday’s Day 3 will mark the moment all three Day 1 flights meet each other for the first time.

For now now, our focus is on sleep, food, and our return for Day 2A/B (not necessarily in that order). Our coverage will resume at noon PT Tuesday. Until then, we leave you with this morsel of awesome.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) will this summer stage its largest buy-in event ever. BIG ONE for ONE DROP will feature a $ 1,000,000 entry fee and is slated to take place from July 1-3, 2012 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event will be televised on ESPN.

The event has been organized by Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil. ONE DROP is a non-governmental organization established in Montreal, Canada and active worldwide. The organization’s mission is to fight poverty by supporting worldwide access to water and raising awareness to water-related issues.

The historic WSOP bracelet event has 30 committed participants. Its prize pool is projected to exceed $ 26,000,000 with the winner to walk away with an estimated $ 12,266,668, the largest amount ever awarded in a poker tournament.

The first prize in the event will exceed the $ 12 million first prize won by Jamie Gold at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

From each entry fee, $ 111,111 will be donated to ONE DROP with “a goal of raising enough money for a legacy project that will help a country with access to clean water,” according to the organization. “With the commitment from 30 players already, more than $ 3.33 million is slated to go to ONE DROP.”

The confirmed players include poker professionals Erik Seidel, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Tom Dwan, Tony Guoga, Jonathan Duhamel, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Also participating are Bob Bright, CEO of the stock trading firm Bright Trading LLC; Paul Newey, co-founder of London-based private investment firm New Wave Ventures; Phil Ruffin, owner of Treasure Island; and Laliberté.

“A million dollar buy-in seems crazy, and well, it is, but when you factor in a great cause like One Drop getting a percentage of the prize pool, all of a sudden it seems like a fantastic idea, and a great way to raise money for charity,” Negreanu said in a statement. “Count me in.”

The event is capped at 48 players. If that number of players is reached, first prize will likely be around $ 18 million.

Every year thousands of fans head to the mecca of poker Las Vegas for that one in a million no make that one in a billion shot of winning the greatest prize there ever is in poker land, the almighty WSOP Main Event.

Last year we saw a young German named Pius Heinz take that all too elusive title, a dam fine bracelet, $ 8.7million in winnings and his larger than life size photo forever to be hung above the hopeful players as they crowd into the poker rooms at the Rio.

Who’ll win it this year in 2012? Will we see a known name take it down? And just what of this $ 1 million tournament benefiting the One Drop Foundation. So did we whet your appetite yet?

We sure hope so, we want you there representing the finest of the finest from Party Poker and here’s how you can guarantee your seat at the Main Event – and without spending a cent!

Party On Dudes

Win one of our $ 14,000 prize packages and you’ll receive:

• $ 10,000 WSOP main event buy-in
• $ 2,000 spending money
• Hotel accommodation in Las Vegas for 10 nights

The best part is that our Party Poker comprehensive range of WSOP qualifiers has been created to give you the best chance to get to this ultimate poker extravaganza, starting with our irresistible daily freerolls. Qualifiers run from 27th February until 17th June so that means plenty of opportunities to win your $ 14,000 package. Check out our full qualifying structure page and plan your route.

Somebody’s got to be world champion – so why not you? Qualify for free now.