The 39th annual World Series of Poker got underway Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as the first of 55 separate poker tournaments began at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

As opening ceremonies go, it was all Vegas kitsch, and then some.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) marching band played “Viva Las Vegas” and poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson manned the public address microphone to announce, “Shuffle up and deal,” poker’s version of “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

Anywhere you looked were poker personalities both famous and infamous–a Fossilman, a Unabomber, a Moneymaker–and plenty of fans begging for autographs…and poker advice.

WSOP Event #1, a $10,000 buy-in, pot-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney with a total prize pool of about $3.3 million and a top prize of about $800,000, is scheduled to last three days.

The event drew 352 entrants, including top poker names such as Brunson, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Jamie Gold, Berry Johnston and Tom McEvoy, all of whom have won the WSOP Main Event.

Other big names competing in the opening tournament were Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, Phil “Poison” Ivey, Jen Tilly, Jen Harman, Mike Sexton, Erik Seidel, Alex “The Mad Russian” Kravchenko, Howard “The Professor” Lederer, Gavin Smith, Orel Hershiser, Kathy Liebert, Beth Shak, Andy Bloch, Humberto Brenes, Phil “Unabomber” Laak, Shannon Elizabeth and John Juanda.

After a day of play in Event #1, most of the above-mentioned names were eliminated, and only 70 players remained, including Harman, Liebert, Shak, Brenes, Ferguson, Laak and Bloch.

The top 36 finishers in Event #1 will receive cash prizes, including a whopping $794,112 for the winner, $488,048 for the runnerup and $306,064 for the No. 3 finisher.

Finishers No. 28-36 will each earn $23,162.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)