Nine card sharks left the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas early Wednesday morning with $1 million each, but a lot of the professional poker world was left with an empty feeling.
Poker's biggest star, Daniel Negreanu, came up two places short of making the final table of the Main Event in the World Series of Poker. It was the second time he finished 11th in the Main Event, matching his finish in 2001. There were only 613 entrants that year, less than 10 percent of this year's field of 6,420.
"I'd be lying if I told you the entire poker industry wasn't holding its breath as one by one, players were eliminated and Negreanu remained," said Donnie Peters, PokerNews editor-in-chief.