It took a year of aggressive preparation and it paid off as the 54th Annual World Series of Poker $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship aka 2023 WSOP Main Event breached the long-standing 2006 turnout of 8,773 players.

Before the announcement was made, 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker delivered a heartfelt welcome speech comparing the past to the present,

“It’s an honor to be here, it’s a really special event. To be here 20 years later to kick off this event. What many people don’t realize is that 20 years ago poker was a dying game. They were shutting down poker rooms throughout the country. It was hard to find a game. You wouldn’t have tournaments you could go to at anytime and anywhere you wanted to. It was really hard to find a place to play.

The landscape now, you could play just about anywhere in the world. So many different opportunities, so many ways you could play this game, and also, the amount of people playing is just phenomenal, the diversity of players compared to back then when the game got smaller because people were dying off. Just a bunch of old guys sitting around playing, very few women. Now we have tons of women in the field today, a lot of people from a lot of different professions, it is a well respected game and a growing game. I am so happy to be a part of it.”

With that, Moneymaker passed the mic to his friend, Gene Calden, the oldest player  to attend the Main Event who gave the customary call “Shuffle up and deal!”. Funnily, at a 100-years old, the automated registration also recognized Calden as the youngest player at age zero.

Within the first 45 minutes of Level 1, WSOP Executive Director, Ty Stewart, announced that the previous record had officially been eclipsed. The exact number would be revealed at the end of registration on Saturday, July 8, 2023. At the end of Day 1D, it was near the 10,000 mark.

As it happens nearly every year, WSOP bracelet record holder Phil Hellmuth came out in costume and brought the entire entourage. To the tune of Katy Perry’s “Roar”, Hellmuth waltzed in as “The Greatest Showman” pulling a caged lion, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, and 17 models at their tail to boast of his incredible 17 WSOP bracelets.

Hellmuth was then whisked off to the feature table where he was planted for the rest of the day. He did change to his usual attire and chatted up his tablemates until bagging time. Hellmuth advanced to Day 2 with 105,800 (132 bb). Cates was not so fortunate.

Also closing the day with chips were past Main Event champions Moneymaker (179 bb),  Joe Hachem (156 bb), Qui Nguyen (156 bb), Phil Ivey (98 bb), John Juanda (72 bb), and Scotty Nguyen (10 bb).

WSOP Main Event champions into Day 2