UPDATE: As of 1:30 am PT, registration has reached 3,006. A sellout is looking more and more likely, so if you hope to play in Event #2, you'd better register NOW.

As of 8:00 pm PT this evening, there were already more than 2,500 players registered for Event #2 ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em). At this point, they are spread rather evenly, with roughly 1,250 for Day 1a and 1,250 for Day 1b. The tournament official that I spoke with expects a sellout, but I think he might be a little over-optimistic.

I have received slightly different reports on the total capacity for the next two days, with one source saying 207 tables and another claiming 196. (We'll know for certain tomorrow.) Starting on June 12th, another ballroom will become available, adding another 65 tables to the current capacity.

So the current capacity appears to be about 2,000 players per day, for a total of 4,000 players. To reach full capacity, they'll need the 160 or so tables in the Amazon Room, the 23 tables that are currently being used for satellites in the Tropical Room, with the rest of the players being in other parts of the casino -- some near the Buzio's seafood restaurant, and others in the Rio poker room.

The record field size for a WSOP preliminary event was set last year in Event #49 ($1,500 No-Limit Hold'em), when 3,151 players signed up. While I don't think tomorrow's Event #2 will be a complete sellout, I am predicting a record-breaking field of at least 3,500. That would also set a record for largest prizepool in a WSOP prelim, and probably the largest first prize in prelim history (not counting the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event for obvious reasons). It'll be interesting to see how close first prize comes to the $1 million mark.

Other Notes:

1. Back in the 2005 Main Event, Shawn Sheikhan berated a female dealer so much that she was reduced to tears. (And no, I won't be naming her here.) The other players agreed that he went way over the line, and he later apologized to her. But she never let it get to her, and she's returned to the WSOP each year since. Today, I noticed that she's been promoted to a floorperson in the cash game area. Congrats!

2. There will be an experimental coding system for tracking players tomorrow for Day 2 of the $10,000 pot-limit hold'em event. There are cards on the table that allow the media to know every player's name even as they change seats and break tables. It was originally developed by Jonathan Raab in London, and then transitioned to the European Poker Tour (EPT), where it has been used with a lot of success. I'll discuss it in more detail tomorrow.