Rio Tournament Cuts
When I arrived to register for the tournament on Friday, there were signs
posted about the lowered prize fund. First prize was $25k, and I think the total prize money paid to the finalists was $48k. In addition, $3k was given out in drawings held at the same time as the wild card drawings for the semifinals. I don't know the final number of players, but there were only 94 players that were expected as of when I registered. Rio was apparently looking for more like 200-300 players. Players were given a Tommy Bahamas watch as a welcome gift along with $50 in food vouchers. There was an optional $250 rebuy available if you didn't advance in the first round based on availability. I didn't need it, so I don't know how it worked. Rounds were 35 hands with a countdown after 30 hands. Players had $5k in chips with betting limits from $100 - $2500 until the countdown, no max bet on the last 5 hands.
The first round tables I saw had 4 players with 2 advancing. In the second round, tables had either 4 or 5 players with 1 advancing. This led to 18 players at 3 semifinal tables (6 of them wild cards) with 2 advancing from each semifinal table. I made the semis, but not the finals.