Once players had settled down and the cards were in the air, the payouts were announced, with the winner picking up $1,425,000. A total of 54 players would make the money, although some of the players were setting up a charge for first from the opening hand.

The tournament has been one of the favourites with the players owing to the slow blind structure and 30,000 starting stack. This year the players were in for a bonus though after the tournament director announced this event would see players kicking off with 40,000 – a whopping 800 big blinds.

One of the players who has been running well on the WPT in recent years made another confident start as Brandon Cantu took his 40,000 and turned it into 182,000 by the close of play. He was joined by two of the best young tournament players on the circuit as Joe Sebok finished on 155,000, while Jonathon Little did a little better to finish the day on 165,000. The three have a little work to do to catch the chip leader though, Onofrio Reina bagging 256,000.