2015 World Series of Poker

The first open event on the 2015 WSOP schedule started at 4 p.m. Wednesday, drawing a relatively small, but start-studded field. The $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em drew 422 entries, quite a bit less than the mid-schedule $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event that saw 696 players jump in the fray in 2014.

Big names like 2012 WSOP $1,000,000 The Big One for One Drop champ Antonio Esfandiari, 2013 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner Dan Smith, 2011 WSOP $10,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em bracelet winner Joe Ebanks, 2014 WPT Montreal champ Jonathan Jaffe, and WSOP bracelet winner and PokerNews Podcast co-host Jason Somerville were among those building contending stacks.

And while others like two-time WSOP bracelet winner JC Tran, Season X WPT Player of the Year Joe Serock, and 2001 WSOP Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen hit the rail, 2011 WSOP $5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em runner-up Darryl Ronconi took the overnight chip lead as the only player over 200,000 in chips.

By the time 10 60-minute levels were through, some 171 players remained. The event created a $1,983,400 prizepool that will pay 45 spots. A min-cash is worth $9,381 and the winner's share will be $466,120, plus the coveted piece of WSOP hardware.

There's still a long way to go however, as Event #2 is a four-day tournament that will resume play for Day 2 at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Also on the schedule Thursday is the start of Event #3: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low at 12 p.m. and Event #4: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout set for 4 p.m.

Welcome to the 2015 World Series of Poker!

PokerNews will not be the live coverage provider for this year's 46th annual WSOP, but our famous MyStack app will be functional for players that have it installed on their mobile devices.

Brought to you by PokerNews, the app connects poker players in poker events. If you are playing in a poker tournament with the MyStack app available, you can now update your own chip count, post comments, and even share photos with other PokerNews members from around the world.

You can download the app via Google Play by clicking here.

You can download the app via the iTunes App Store by clicking here.