Poker players from around the globe have descended on the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for the first of four start dates at the World Series of Poker Main Event.

A total of 1,287 players kicked off the first day’s play. Thousands more already have paid the $10,000 buy-in for the No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship, commonly referred to as the Main Event.

Registration remains open until July 9 at 2 p.m., after which official participation and prize money numbers for the 38th Annual World Series of Poker will be available.

“This has been the best World Series of Poker in the tournament’s 38-year history,” said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, “and this will be the best Main Event ever.”

More than $100 million in prize money already has been awarded at the 2007 World Series of Poker. This year’s event schedule included a total of 55 tournaments, the most in World Series of Poker history.