Twelve more entrants were officially confirmed by the WSOP this morning to bring the full list of participants up to about 42 - very close to the 48-player cap.
And that's not including Ben Lamb, who tweeted his entry this morning, and one Jean-Robert Bellande, who semi-confirmed his participation with an anti-climactic tweet yesterday.
The new-entrants list is heavily populated with US pros, who got a sniff of the soft field when the initial player list was published and have been on the hunt for backers since.
The 12 new players, according to the WSOP release:
ANONYMOUS U.S. Hedge Fund Manager JOHN MORGAN CEO, Winmark Corporation EUGENE KATCHALOV U.S. Professional Poker Player JENS KYLLÖNEN Finnish Professional Poker Player JASON MERCIER U.S. Professional Poker Player DAVID PEAT U.S. Professional Poker Player VIVEK RAJKUMAR U.S. Professional Poker Player ANDREW ROBL U.S. Professional Poker Player NICK SCHULMAN U.S. Professional Poker Player NOAH SCHWARTZ U.S. Professional Poker Player ROGER TESKA U.S. Professional Poker Player SAM TRICKETT U.S. Professional Poker PlayerTwo formerly anonymous players were also named (Giovanni “Malibu” Guarascio and Frederic Banjout) along with Carlos Nahas, the Quebec Lotto winner.
What's the Twitter buzz about it all? A bit of brag, a bit of hustle, a bit of JRB busting, some cynicism and a little Robin Leach:
Yes. I'm going to play the One Drop.
— Jean-Robert Bellande (@BrokeLivingJRB) June 5, 2012I will be playing the #onedrop $1 million buy in! Excited to play such a prestigious event for such a great cause!#onetimeforonedrop
— Ben Lamb (@BenbaLamb) June 7, 2012Just put down my deposit to play ONE DROP!1 mill buyin ... #Nobigdeal Got one month to sell action I guess. Get at me 1.1 so 11,000 for 1%
— Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) June 3, 2012@WSOPRGUY "... winner to walk away with a 10-figure payday" Forgot the mention thatby "winner" you mean "backers". #onedrop#illusions
— Kim Lund(@InfiniteEdgeKim) June 7, 2012Roger Teska eh? RT @WSOPRGUY: WSOP's Big One for One Drop $1 million buy-in event confirms 12 more players.They are: wsop.com/n/2Y9
— Christian Harder (@realcharder30) June 7, 2012Roger must play in some nice private games.
— Christian Harder (@realcharder30) June 7, 2012Prize pool hits $35-mill as Cirque chief Guy LaLiberte adds 12 new $1-mill buyin poker playersfor his One Drop charity tournament July 1
— Robin Leach (@Robin_Leach) June 7, 2012Breaking News- Less than 24 hours after Jean-Robert Bellande announced he is playing One Drop, the event has 357 people on the waiting list
— Fake Gus Hansen(@FakeGusHansen) June 6, 2012Jean-Robert Bellande (@BrokeLivingJRB) is going to play the One Drop? Can't believe he found one million backers for a dollar each.
— Norman Chad (@NormanChad) June 6, 2012Sold some more shares of my Million WSOP buy-in package to @migcom @blur5f6 and @blakec13. Don't get shut out, let me know if interested.
— Grant Hinkle (@GrantHinkle) June 7, 2012@WSOPTD is the 50K deposit for the one drop non refundable to prevent possible use of a charity event to garner publicity#patheticbehavior
— Daniel Shak (@daniel_shak) June 6, 2012@WSOPTD would be a shame if real players locked out by one or 2 people putting up refundable 50K with no real chance of raising the money.
— Daniel Shak (@daniel_shak) June 6, 2012@WSOPTD @allinfor1drop @ONEDROPdotorgplease don't forget that the purpose of this tourney is water shortage awareness#notpublicitystunts
— Daniel Shak (@daniel_shak) June 7, 2012@ShaneSchleger @WSOPTD @daniel_shak the cap is there to create an artificial demand for the tourney. No1 will be turned away. #scumbagwsop
— stealthmunk (@stealthmunk) June 7, 2012Visit www.pokerlistings.com