The action was folded around to the button who raised to 1,200. Jonathan Little was in the small blind and three-bet to 3,500 which his opponent called. The flop came 
and Little led out for 3,000. His opponent called and they were off to the turn.
The 
fell on the turn and Little bet again for 4,000. This time his opponent looked back at his cards and then pushed them forward into the muck.
Leon Tsoukernik raised to 1,100 from under the gun and got one call from the player in the cutoff.
The flop came 
and Tsoukernik bet 3,000. His opponent folded and Tsoukernik took the chips.
A few hands later, Tsoukernik had the button and was heads up against the player in the cutoff on a flop of 
. Both players checked and the turn brought the 
. The cutoff bet 2,250 and Tsoukernik called. The river was the 
and they both checked. The cutoff tabled 
for a pair of aces with a queen and Tsoukernik mucked.
On the heads-up turn 
, Hoan Nguyen bet 2,150 out of the big blind and Dan Shak raised it up to 6,500. Nguyen called and the 
river completed the board. Nguyen made it 3,000 to go and Shak grabbed raising chips. After one minute of consideration, Shal raised to 10,000 and Nguyen called instantly.
"Ace high," Shak announced, and Nguyen already showed his 
while Shak mucked his cards without showing.
The other two big stacks on the table are Guy Despres and Lloyd Mandel. Their stack sizes can be found below.
Mark Johnson bet 4,300 into a pot of about 7,000 on a completed board of 
. His opponent in late position called, and Johnson showed 
for a straight to take the sizable pot. He's still below the starting stack, though.
Barny Boatman closes in on triple the starting stack, and Jerry Yang is still in the hunt to try and snag a second Main Event title to follow his win from 10 years ago.
There aren't many women playing in the purple section of the Amazon room, but best-selling mystery novelist Jane Stanton Hitchcock is one of them, and she's off to a strong start.
On a completed board of 
with about 8,000 chips already in the middle, Hitchcock was on the button and heads up with the player in the hijack, who checked. She bet 5,000, sending her opponent into the tank. Ultimately, he called, and Hitchcock tabled 
for the rivered nut straight to take the pot.
With the TV cameras rolling, 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event Champ Qui Nguyen walked over to Table 109 and sat down in Seat 8, bearing a wide smile and clad in his trusty raccoon hat.
Nguyen conquered a field of 6,737 last year to claim a first-place prize of $8,005,310. Nguyen is already taking selfies with a few fans from nearby tables. However, his tournament poker activities since the Main Event last year have been anything but glamorous. He has yet to record a live cash since then.
We'll see if he can put together a strong run to defend his title, starting here on Day 1a.
Jessica Dawley and Sorel Mizzi have joined the field over the last break and are just starting to get comfortable at their tables. The 50,000 chip stacks that players start with now make for an extremely deep starting day.
The WSOP Main Event often brings many entertaining people into the lights of the poker world. One man has a Superman costume on while sitting at his table, and another is trying to bribe dealers for good cards with $5 gratuities.
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