Samuel Touil finished Day 1C on the top of the Main Event

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Many top pros joined the event on the last starting day, with the likes of Patrik Antonius, Phil Hellmuth or Phil Ivey.

"It felt very special to be back"

A total of 7,874 players entered the Main Event during the three starting flights, which makes this year's event the second-largest ever. The field grew by 8% compared to last year. The prize pool grew to a whopping $74,015,600 with $8.8 million for the eventual winner and 1,182 places paid.

A 33-year-old player from France, Samuel Touil is the current chip leader, with a stack of 352,800. It looks like top-players waited for the last moment to join the competition. Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius were both amongst the last entrants. However, they didn't waste any time once they got into their seats, as both ended the day with above average stacks, especially Patrik, who accumulated a very healthy chip stack of 208,200. This is the first WSOP-appearance for the Finnish legend since 2012.

"It felt very special to be back," said Antonius. "I got in after the dinner break, brought a lot of action to the table and managed to get some big hands. It was great to see so many poker players I have not seen in so long. I am very tired and going to rest for a while after this."

Many notable players have busted the event already as Sorel Mizzi, Daniel Negreanu, Dan Colman, Vanessa Selbst and Chris Moneymaker are all busted.

End of Day 1C chip count:

Place
 Player Chip count
1 Samuel Touil 352,800
2 Peter Forsstrom 283,200
3 Bernhard Steiner 282,000
4 Denilson Menezes 272,000
5 Anthony Reategui 256,500
6 Gary Payne 248,600
7 Ignacio Sanchez 244,700
8 Robert Covert 240,300
9 Martin Malone 237,400
10 Fabrizzo Dagostino 234,900

The list of former Main Event champs advance to Day 2 is long: Joe Cada, Jonathan Duhamel, Robert Varkonyi, Martin Jacobson, and Phil Hellmuth all chose Day 1C. Make sure to keep an eye on us for the updates!