Day 1A of the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event begins on Wednesday. [Image: PokerGO.com]

The best day of the poker year is upon us: Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Main Event. Last year’s Main Event destroyed the long-standing record field of 8,773 set in 2006, fielding an astounding 10,043 entrants. Could the 2024 WSOP Main Event eclipse that gaudy total? Tournament organizers think it’s a distinct possibility, but we shall see.

The first of four starting flights kicks off on Wednesday, with another each of the next three days. On Sunday, the survivors of the first three flights will play on separate Days 2A, 2B, and 2C. Day 2D is by itself on Monday, July 8, as historically the final starting flight, and hence the final Day 2 flight, is always the largest. Starting with Day 3 on Tuesday July 9, all remaining players will be in one, unified field and will go from there until the final table is determined on Sunday, July 14.

There will be a break on July 15 before the final table runs July 16-17.

largest-ever field would have the largest-ever award

Last year’s winner, Daniel Weinman, nabbed $12.1m, the largest prize in WSOP Main Event history, narrowly edging out Jamie Gold’s $12m from 2006. With a $93.4m total prize pool that was about $11m more than that of 2006, the first prize could have been higher, but the payout structure has been adjusted over the years to give more money to players lower on the pay ladder. The WSOP intentionally set the 2023 first prize at $12.1m so that the largest-ever field would have the largest-ever award.

PokerGO will livestream portions of the 2024 WSOP Main Event starting at 8:30pm ET today. In all, the subscription service will stream over 100 hours of the action across the two weeks.