Day 1i: Faces in the Field

Actress Sasha Barrese, who has been playing a fair amount of tournament poker in recent years in California and Florida, is here in today’s WPT500 field. Barrese is best known for portraying Tracy Billings, the original bride-to-be in the Hangover films.

WPT Commentator and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton welcomed the players at the start of the day with the traditional “Shuffle up and deal,” and then took his seat to play against them. While Sexton is best known for his TV work and his role as one of poker’s top ambassadors, he also has more than $5.8 million in career earnings, and has cashed for seven figures ($1 million or more) twice.

Barbara Enright is one of the pioneering women of the poker world, and she’s here at the Aria playing the WPT500 today. Enright has won two WSOP bracelets, and to this day she is the only woman to ever make the final table of the WSOP Main Event — she finished fifth in 1995.

WPT Producers Mandy Glogow (seated, left) and Adam Strohl (standing) have put down their TV cameras and taken seats with the rest of the players for a change.