A poker player in the WSOP Main Event immediately bets all his chips with "Big Slick".

Anthony Marini went all-in with AK in Level 1 of the 2026 WSOP Main Event, but ran into Ryan Sands with AA, becoming the first player to be eliminated.

It didn't take long, but as usual, players have already been eliminated in Level 1 of the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Anthony Marini got A♦K♦ early in the World Championship and decided to go all in, while Ryan Sands didn't want his opponent to double up too early.

Big Slick seeks to double up early

As PokerNews reporter Jacob Wilson learned at table 94 in Paris Las Vegas, a player raised from an early position, and Marini made a standard 3-bet to 1,500 with "Big Slick". Sands, behind him, 4-bet to 3,500 (we will not reveal his hand at this time).

Marini, who finished 1,222nd in the 2022 WSOP Main Event and won 15,000 with $, raised to 7,500. Sands then went all-in with a starting stack of 60,000. Despite it being the early stage of a marathon tournament and having over 250 big blinds left if he folded, Marini chose to call. What did Sands have? A♠A♣, of course.

The flop did indeed bring a King, but the turn and river failed to improve AK further. Sands won a pot of 121,000 chips, quickly doubling up in the Main Event, while Marina became the first player eliminated in this year's biggest event.

There are four starting groups for Day 1, with registration open for two Day 2 groups. As of press time, 514 players have bought into Day 1 Group A, and Marina is the only player eliminated in this freeze tournament.

The main event will be streamed live on the ESPN app at 8 p.m. ET, which requires a paid subscription. Defending champion Michael Mizrachi (who recently won his ninth WSOP bracelet) kicked off the event by announcing the "shuffle and deal."

PokerNews will provide live coverage of the Main Event from start to finish, until August 5th.

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