12 people were slated to appear at the main event, but due to reportedly attractive side cash games only 8 of them appeared at the tables on May 11, the date the event was scheduled to run. Half of each player's $10,000 buy-in was covered by Benny Binion, who was looking to gain publicity from the event and thus draw bigger crowds into Binion's Horseshoe. The winner of previous 2 WSOP main events, Johnny Moss, took an early lead in the tournament, but soon ended up eliminated. Moss hit a set of deuces with 2-2 on a 9-7-2 flop and after a 10 came on the turn, he got all-in versus Doyle Brunson's pocket aces. However, Brunson hit a 3rd A on the river to win the hand. Moss had almost no chips left and got eliminated shortly afterwards.