Yesterday ONE DROP Chairman and Cirque du Soleil Founder Guy Laliberté announced that 30 players have confirmed that they will participate in the $1,000,000 buy-in event on July 1-3 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
In total, the event has space for 48 players, so another 18 seats are still available. According to WSOP.com, $111,111 from each $1,000,000 buy-in will be donated to ONE DROP with the goal of raising enough money for a legacy project that will help a country with access to clean water. The event is rake free, so if "only" 30 players take part, more than $3,33 million will be donated to ONE DROP.
Biggest first place prize in poker history
With 30 committed participants already, the prize pool is projected to exceed $26,000,000, with the winner to get an estimated $12,266,668 - the biggest first prize ever awarded in a poker tournament, breaking Jamie Gold's record in 2006 when he took down the WSOP main event for about $12 million. However, the organizers of the event expect to reach its 48-player cap, so the prize pool and the first prize might get even greater.
Confirmed players so far:
1. Guy Laliberté
2. Phil Ruffin
3. Andy Beal
4. Montreal private citizen group (Sean O'Donnell)
5. Loto-Québec/Casino Montreal seat (Lottery scratch-off/live satellite)
6. Cary Katz
7. Paul Newey
8. Richard Yong
9. Erik Seidel
10. Anonymous - U.S. Venture Capitalist
11. Anonymous - European Hedge Fund Manager
12. Anonymous - U.S. Hedge Fund Manager
13. Anonymous - French businessman
14. Caesars Entertainment seat
15. Caesars Entertainment via June 30 $25,300 satellite at Rio
16. MGM Mirage Satellite seat
17. Bobby Baldwin
18. Patrik Antonius
19. Gus Hansen
20. Daniel Negreanu
21. Johnny Chan
22. Tom Dwan
23. Tony Guoga
24. Jonathan Duhamel
25. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
26. Daniel Shak
27. Justin Smith
28. Bob Bright
29. Arnaud Mimran
30. Paul Phua
