The Harrah's Rincon World Series of Poker Circuit event began yesterday with 106 entrants vying for a top prize worth $125,775, an entry into the 2009 WSOP Main Event and a coveted gold WSOP Circuit ring. 

Each of those players - one way or another - paid $5,150 for their seat into this Southern California event, creating a total prize pool worth over a half million dollars.  That prize pool is only large enough to pay the top nine places, which means 7 of the returning 16 players that made it into Rincon's day two will still be forced to leave empty handed by the end of the day's  play.

Some of the pros in attendence at this year's Rincon day 1 included Matt "Allinat420" Stout, Michael Binger, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, David Daneshgar and PokerRoad's Bryan "Devo" Devonshire, none of whom survived the first day.

Players coming back for day 2 include Christopher Tryba, Charles Williams, Dwyte Pilgrim and Esther "E-Tay" Taylor, who currently sits in first place with 360,000 in tournament chips.

Day 2 is set to begin today at 1 p.m. California time and will be covered live by PokerNews.com.


Story by Mark Anderson