Capping off one of the wildest days in World Series of Poker history, the main event experienced an unexpected break in the action Friday night when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California near Ridgecrest.
The shocks were felt hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, where some panicked poker players dove under tables to take shelter, or simply bolted out of the room entirely. Some table lights flipped askew, the rafters swayed, and there was even one report of some falling glass.
Many players were unfazed by the shakes and didn’t bother moving, but with some poker players needing a bit of time to recover from the ordeal, tournament officials decided to move up the start of the dinner break.
Check out how the poker world reacted on social media to the incident.
World Series of Earthquakes!#earthquakelv #earthquake #wsop #WorldSeriesofPoker pic.twitter.com/VDiNjQV1NW
— Sherif Messiri (@DaSheriff) July 6, 2019
The ceiling was shaking at #wsop event at the Rio! #EarthquakeLA pic.twitter.com/XQVq1suMJl
— ZaZa Maree (@ZaZaMaree) July 6, 2019
I scoped out the ceiling for a few seconds, then proceeded to get under the table like it was earthquake practice in 2nd grade. Thanks for the tip motherfathers!! #earthquake #lasvegas
— Steve Sung (@ssung41585) July 6, 2019
Part of chandelier fell on my table in Brasilia pic.twitter.com/CukrOn7Z2T
— Bart O'Connell (@BartOConnell) July 6, 2019
Wow. At 7.1, the #earthquake we just felt was about 5x bigger and released ~11x more energy than the one yesterday https://t.co/SI5e2sNwLl
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) July 6, 2019
Found some #earthquake damage outside the #wsop… pic.twitter.com/zycTKo37Fs
— Uncle Ron (@UncleRonAA) July 6, 2019
As someone who’s only hope of breaking even this summer is some shit falling from the roof and injuring me, I’m a big fan of this earthquake.
— Niall Farrell (@Firaldo87poker) July 6, 2019
EARTHQUAKE BAD BEAT: I call a raise in the SB with 66. EARTHQUAKE. I run out with 100-200 others. Eventually they open the doors & I go back in to see hand still in progress. My hand dead. A65dd. Guy had 555. I would have doubled (player looked at my hand (!?!) & confirmed)
— Andy Frankenberger (@AMFrankenberger) July 6, 2019
Respect btw the room was in an absolute frenzy to get out from under the lights overhead stuff etc Kerstetter sat there like a stone cold gangster didn't even flinch
— Nick Schulman (@NickSchulman) July 6, 2019
My girlfriend, Huayi Zheng, was at the RIO playing the $10,000 WSOP Main Event when the earthquake hit. She just called me and said, "All the lights in the Pavilion started shaking, but I refused to leave because it was my big blind!"
— Hunter Cichy (@HunterCichy) July 6, 2019
I am out of the main. Hugely frustrating. However I was not impaled by a piece of chandelier falling 50 feet out of the sky, so I guess I'm lucky.
— Terrence Chan (@tchanpoker) July 6, 2019
You can’t make my wsop up. In the middle of a 7.1 earthquake I called a 4bet with AA for a pot the size of a starting stack. Literally everyday one from the table fled except me and the 4 bettor. #gamblers#wsop2019
— Michael Zulker (@incrediblezulk) July 6, 2019
You knows it’s a good tournament when less than 10% of the field knows to get under the table during an earthquake…
— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) July 6, 2019
the whole main event just got #shook
— Jeff Madsen (@JeffMadsenobv) July 6, 2019
I just tried to pull off the most gangster bluff on Bob Bright during the earthquake as a cover. He did not care just picks me off w King hi. Smh
— Brandon Cantu (@brandoncantu) July 6, 2019
World series of earthquakes making dicks fall out
— Veronica 2.0 (@Angry_Polak) July 6, 2019
Huge earthquake in the middle of the main event! Holy shit that was scary!! pic.twitter.com/AXF6Og3uJY
— Ivan Zarate (@zarateivan33) July 6, 2019
Being from chicago that #earthquake an hour ago was the first one I’ve ever been in, I guess I slept through one a few days ago as well? That was wild I was at raku eating dinner and the whole place was shaking. I felt pretty dizzy when it was done.
— Tom Koral (@tomkoral) July 6, 2019
Rio being evacuated — side note just ran by the craps tables and saw a couple regs screaming at the dealer about where the dice landed during the Equake #loveVegas
— Johnny Beauprez (@jbeauprez) July 6, 2019
When an earthquake is the 3rd or 4th biggest story of the day at the WSOP, you know it’s been a wild day.
— Kevin Mathers (@Kevmath) July 6, 2019
Ruminations on earthquakes with
PhilLaak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WSOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">WSOP pic.twitter.com/HfkI5rAbaW— Jennifer Tilly (@JenniferTilly) July 6, 2019
Earthquake in Vegas wsop main event, half my table just left the room including a guy facing an all in. Is his hand still live pic.twitter.com/PQ7rg8CpAU
— andrew teng (@realandrewteng) July 6, 2019
Earthquake aftershocks felt at the #WSOP pic.twitter.com/EKBVSYPvKG
— Kim Nicole (@KimGussoni) July 6, 2019
Part of the chandelier fell and exploded on and next to our table @WSOP #wsop #mainevent #dodgingbullets #earthquake pic.twitter.com/VRUx4F4jB4
— Chase (@C_Derf) July 6, 2019
Playing the wsop main event. Earthquake just happened and so many people sprinted outside that the tournament is paused.
— Jacob Wilson (@JacobWilson95) July 6, 2019
