More than 500 poker players, including professionals, were "denied entry into the fourth starting day" of the $10,000 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold 'em World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event at the Rio in Las Vegas, according to Steve Silver of the LAS VEGAS SUN. Registration for the main event opened on March 1, and the tournament "utilizes four 'first' days to accommodate nearly 12,000 players." As crowds "swelled Monday morning, the WSOP set up additional poker tables inside Buzio's at the Rio and took over the regular poker room on the main floor of the casino to accommodate the large turnout." But after accepting 2,809 players, WSOP officials closed registration "about two hours before the noon start time." WSOP President & Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, "We do not want to be in the business of turning people away. This is not our preferred outcome, but operationally we are at capacity today." WSOP Dir of Communications Seth Palansky: "We're sorry we couldn't accommodate everyone, but those waiting until the last minute, as in life, sometimes come up short." Palansky added that Pollack and other WSOP officials "did discuss adding an extra start day or placing 10 players at each table instead of nine." But "in order to maintain fairness and equality, Pollack made the decision" around 2:30pm PT "not to change the format of the tournament and to officially turn away the late registrants." WSOP officials last night announced that "6,494 players will compete for $61[M] in prize money, with the champion winning" $8.55M ( LAS VEGAS SUN, 7/7 ). The AP's Oskar Garcia noted if the rejected players had been accommodated, the tournament "likely would have eclipsed its total entries from last year, when Peter Eastgate won $9.15[M] for beating 6,843 others" in the main event ( AP, 7/6 ).
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