The PokerStars North American Poker Tour, $5,000 buy-in Mohegan Sun main event, which kicked off this morning in Connecticut, was in many ways the first real test for this brand new young tour and if recently published numbers are any indication, guess who getting a gold star.

Unlike the recent Venetian event in Las Vegas and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, this Mohegan Sun stop in Uncasvile, was truly the first tournament of NAPT Season 1 that required many players to actually make a special trip to attend, and boy did they, with today’s field topping off at an impressive 716 players.

716 players at first glance may not seem that astounding, when say compared to events in poker’s 2005-2006 heyday but it’s a remarkable number in 2010, particularly when compared to long established tours like the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker Circuit which saw recent events not even able to crack 150 players, despite one of them- the WSOP Circuit Rincon event- taking place fairly close to the major poker hub that is Los Angeles.

Along with the large group of expected PokerStars Pros that made the trip out east to compete today like Daniel Negreanu, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso and PokerRoad’s Barry Greenstein, many non-PokerStars affiliated players- including a large contingent from Full Tilt Poker- sat down as well including Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Kathy Liebert, Sorel Mizzi, David Williams, Men Nguyen, Amit Makhija, Montel Williams and PokerRoad Radio’s Gavin “Birdguts” Smith.

Thanks to the large turnout today, PokerStars is able to boast a total prize pool worth $3,264,244.  Organizers will be able to payout the top 104 finishers from that prize pool, with the final player landing an impressive $750,000, sometime this weekend.

For more information on the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun main event visit the PokerStars blog.