283 players sat down in Biloxi, Mississippi yesterday to play in the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship. A small number perhaps when compared to European tournaments that are allowed to except under-21, online qualifiers, but a highly impressive number for a WPT event so far south, in an area with traditionally light turnouts.

With so many attending, the event was a mere 5 players away from being able to award the winner a first prize of $1,000,000 - a shortcoming soon remedied when the host casino, Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, added $24,219 to the prize pool, despite being under no obligation to do so.

This happy surprise was further enhanced by the quality of players that attended yesterday's Day 1 including such poker stars as Brandon Cantu, Chris Bell, Vanessa Rousso, Erick Lindgren, Bill Gazes, Will "The Thrill" Failla, Clonie Gowen, Hoyt Corkins, Tiffany Michelle, Scott Montgomery and PokerRoad blogger Kevin Saul.

Saul was unfortunate enough not to survive the tough day but numerous PokerRoaders still remain including Gavin Smith, Anna Wroblewski, Barry Greenstein, Allen "The Chainsaw" Kessler, and Bryan Devonshire, who ended the day 6th in chips.

By the end of the day, 175 players remained of the original 283 including Hevad Khan, Greg Mueller, Jason Potter, Miami John Cernuto, David Singer, Bill Edler, Scott Clements, Michael Binger and two lesser known female players, Esther Taylor and Jacquelyn Scott, who together held the top two spots on the leader board after the end of Day 1 play.

Story by Mark Anderson