As the countdown begins to the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event starting next weekend, there are still a number of big events in progress and yet to be played.

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The WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship kicked off on Friday with 378 players ponying up the five-digit buy-in. Near the end of the first day of play, 200 players, or a little more than half the field, remain in contention for the title, including a number of PocketFivers.

Russia’s Ivan Naumov has a slight lead with 200,000 in chips with blinds at 500/1,000 over Ohio’s Steven Saris with 195,000 in chips.

Notable PocketFivers with healthy stacks include Noah fouruhaters Schwartz(pictured, 149,000), Dan KingDan Smith(135,000), Ben bttech86 Tollerene(127,000), Yevgeniy Jovial Gent Timoshenko(91,000), and Patrick pleno1 Leonard (81,000).

Play in this tournament is scheduled to continue on Saturday and Sunday. Here is a look at the top 12 with two levels of play left on day one:

1. Ivan Naumov 200,000
2. Steven Saris 195,000
3. Simon Trumper 186,000
4. Jared Bleznick 155,000
5. Davidi Kitai 154,500
6. Noah fouruhaters Schwartz 149,000
7. Jared Bettencourt 143,000
8. Dan KingDan Smith 135,000
9. Ben bttech86 Tollerene 127,000
10. Yevgeniy Jovial Gent Timoshenko
11. Corrie Wunstel 85,000
12. Patrick pleno1 Leonard 81,000

Also kicking off on Friday was the WSOP Ladies Event. This event has been the source of some controversy in the past, with a handful of men deciding to join in on an event designed for women. The last two years, this was not the case, as the WSOP charges women a “discounted” $1,000 buy-in, where if men want to enter they need to buy in for $10,000.

This year’s Ladies Event witnessed 795 women joining in on the festivities to compete for a top prize of $153,876 and a gold bracelet. Day 1 is already in the books with 121 players remaining. With 81 players cashing in this tournament, the money bubble should come fairly quickly on Day 2.

While attendance is slightly up from last year’s 793 entrants, it is a smaller turnout than expected. Last year’s event experienced a big decline from the 954 entrants in 2013 and a rebound was expected due to a shuffling of events taking place at the same time.

Last year’s decline was blamed on the $1,500 Monster Stack running simultaneously, with many women opting to play in an event with a better structure and bigger prize pool. This year, however, this was not the case, as there are no other lower buy-in events overlapping with the event.

Here is a look, as first reported on CardPlayer, of the field sizes of the Ladies Event since it changed to a NLHE format in 2005:

2005: 601
2006: 1,128
2007: 1,286
2008: 1,190
2009: 1,060
2010: 1,054
2011: 1,055
2012: 936
2013: 954
2014: 793
2015: 795

Stay tuned to PocketFives for the latest WSOP coverage, brought to you by Tournament Poker Edge.

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