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The 2011 WSOP Main Event officially kicked off on Thursday and contrary to his statement made on Twitter during the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, Doyle was indeed in this one.

Doyle greets the crowd on Day 1a of the Main Event.

In fact, Doyle even gave the customary “Shuffle Up and Deal” call to kick off the Main Event.

How did this come to fruition? Apparently Dewey Tomko is the person that convinced him to play.

Doyle said on Twitter yesterday:

TexDolly Stop it. I entered myself just like always. Dewey just pushed me to it. It’s hard to believe some people

After entering he tweeted:

TexDolly ok, I, offically am playing the ME.Do I feel good? No. Do I want to play? No. Am I playing my best? No. Am I gonna try my best? Damn right!!

TexDolly BTW…pity party is over for me. Fuck Murphys Law!

Unfortunately, the day for Doyle didn’t go well. According to Dr. Pauly:

taopauly Mothership TV table: TexDolly bored to death & looking at Twitter. Mickey Appleman looks like he woke up in backseat of his car

Brunson had been down to his last 4,375 chips when he moved in with pocket fives against Steve Costello’s Ac-Qh. Both an ace and a queen on the flop put Doyle behind and he could not catch a five.

As such, Doyle had a quick exit out of the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

While this exit isn’t that surprising considering his lack of enthusiasm, many are crediting him for stepping up as a poker ambassador:

ESPN_Poker (Andrew Feldman) It was another quick exit for @TexDolly, but good to see him playing regardless.

MarieLizette (Marie-Lizette Acoba) As @TexDolly is elminated from @WSOP main event, @WSOPTD calls for a round of applause for the father of poker…Good Game Doyle

Disco_Stu78 (Stuart Morgan) @texdolly Know that you were not feeling like playing today, but it’s awesome you did. Best poker ambassador EVER!!!

GSoltow (George Soltow) @WSOP @TexDolly thanks for playing Doyle. You make the WSOP better and when the time comes that you don’t play it will be a lesser event.

Take the Under

The other story of the day seems to be the number of entrants, which for Day 1a is officially 897.

As the second day total for the Main Event historically has not risen that much from Day 1, there will probably be between 2,000 and 2,200 entrants for the first two days combined.

That means that, if things turn out as in the past, the number of players for Day 1c and 1d will need to be over 2,000 per day to break 6,000 players and around 2,500 per day to make the 7,000+ players that Tournament Director Jack Effel predicted for the Main Event.

In other words, take the under on most field sizes above around 5,500 in my never to be considered or confused to be a humble opinion.

At present, Chris MacFarland is leading with 127k.  Scott Montgomery and Eli Elezra are near the top of the leaderboard, but there is still plenty of poker to be played.

Check out our daily recaps in the morning for more on Day 1a of the Main Event.