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The final starting day of the 2011 World Series of Poker, Day 1D, has all-but-officially calmed the fears of those who said online poker’s Black Friday would lead the ultimate downfall of the game’s biggest live tournament, currently underway in Las Vegas.

A whopping 2,802 players found their seats at the Rio yesterday, bringing total attendance for the WSOP Main Event to 6,865. Although attendance figures were down during the tournament’s first three starting days, the surge on Day 1D makes this the third-largest Main Event in the history of the World Series of Poker.

With a prize pool of $64 million and an incredible $8.7 million allocated to the winner, the World Series of Poker, including the Main Event and the fifty-odd side events leading up to it, looks to be unstoppable. A total of 75,000 players, who apparently found a way to rustle up buy-in money despite Black Friday, made their way to Las Vegas this year to take part.

While plenty of celebrities including Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, the New York Times’ Nate Silver and hip-hop artist Nelly stole the attention of the rail, Day 1D really belonged to the strict professional poker players: Jamie Gold, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Jennifer Harman, Liv Boeree, Vanessa Rousso, Randal Flowers, Bertrand Grospellier, Kathy Liebert, JJ Liu, Phil Galfond, Huck Seed and John Juanda all paid their entry fees.

Of course, around 70% of Day 1D’s starting field has already been eliminated, with major names including Tom Dwan, William Reynolds, Alexander Kravchenko, David Williams, Ivan Demidov and Joe Hachem hitting the rail long before they would’ve liked. Other players, including JC Tran, Vanessa Rousso, Noah Boeken, Jamie Gold and Shawn Cunix, survived the day handily and will bring respectable stacks to Day 2.