The extravaganza known as the World Series of Poker Millionaire Maker kicked off on Saturday with two flights, one at 11:00am local time and one at 5:00pm. When all was said and done, 7,977 entrants turned out, the second largest field in WSOP history, trailing only the 8,773 who turned out for the 2006 Main Event won by Jamie Gold.

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To put the madness into perspective, PokerNews published the attendance of the five largest events in WSOP history:

2006 WSOP Main Event – 8,773 players
2014 WSOP Millionaire Maker – 7,977 players
2010 WSOP Main Event – 7,319 players
2011 WSOP Main Event – 6,865 players
2008 WSOP Main Event – 6,844 players

Randy NanonokoLew, who recently told PocketFives about his newfound passion for photography, was among those in the Millionaire Maker. Lew posted on Twitter, “What a grind today. Played like 15 hours straight, but I made it alive! 14,300 chips going into 400/800/100. I are happy!”

2012 WSOP Octo-Niner Russell Thomas (pictured) was also in the house for the Millionaire Maker and Tweeted that he, at one point, was contemplating three meals from the same food vendor: “Think I might have to go with three @AllAmericanDave meals in one day. No dinner break is tough when u play both flights.” He eventually Tweeted, “Ended with 20.4k. What a long day lol.”

At the same time Andy Blochposted on Twitter that he had cracked Day 2 of the Millionaire Maker with 27,800 in chips, PocketFiver Amit amak316 Makhija added, “Ended the day with 19,100 in the Millionaire Maker. Coming back tomorrow at 2, feeling great to bag up a few chips.”

Also surviving the first day of the insanity that was the Millionaire Maker event was Phil USCphildoCollins, one of the most successful players in PocketFives’ Nevada poker community. Collins reported, “Made Day 2 of Milly Maker in Flight B with 29,700. Got lucky couple times and played great. I’m tired. Restart at 2pm.”

We should probably take a few minutes to highlight the atmosphere inside the Rio during the final hours of the Millionaire Maker, which allowed players who busted during Flight A to rebuy into Flight B. Ryan ryanghall Hall observed, “When a tournament is still going at 2am, there get to be a lot of crabby folks at the table.” The Canadian added, “Everyone here is just zombified at this point.” Hall reported that he ended the day with a stack of 16,100.

Andrew Seidman leads the way after Day 1 of the Millionaire Maker with 137,700 in chips. He busted from Flight A and bought into Flight B a few hours late. Then, his stack sunk from 4,500 to 2,000 before he battled back to a six-figure stack size.

Elsewhere at the WSOP, Kyle da_kykyCartwright (pictured) scored the second bracelet for the PocketFives community after winning Event #4 on Saturday, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Cartwright, who was the leader in the clubhouse when 12 players remained, defeated Jason Paster heads-up. The top nine finishers were all Americans:

1. Kyle da_kyky Cartwright – $360,278
2. Jason Paster – $223,418
3. Ylon Schwartz – $157,855
4. Daniel dazedace Dizenzo – $113,499
5. Matthew O’Donnell – $82,688
6. Jeremy Dresch – $61,041
7. Robert pokerguru740 Kuhn – $45,635
8. Ken Weinstein – $34,552
9. Michael Sortino – $26,489

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