The 2013 WSOP Main Event may be over a month away, but the "Millionaire Maker" sure makes it seem as if the ME is happening right now. The Event #6 $1,500 Millionaire Maker NL Hold'em tournament drew a Main Event-sized field of 6,343 players and will offer a $1,199,104 top prize. The 6,343 entrants is actually a record for a non-ME WSOP tournament.

This event is definitely the big talk around the Rio right now and many players think it was a great idea. Here are just a couple of tweets from the pros:

Bryan Devonshire: Nice work whoever came up with millionaire maker, natural payouts gonna have 1st > $1m it looks. Huuuge turnout crushing expectations. @WSOP

Dan O'Brien: Silly how a gimmicky name can create so much buzz, but I'm on board #millionairemaker @ 2013 World

Ty Stewart, who's the Executive Director of the WSOP, was excited to discuss the organization's newest tourney. "We just wanted to start off with a bang," said Stewart. "We obviously close the series very big with the Main Event but we think that it’s better for everyone when they get into action early. Our contention is if you get a taste of the WSOP experience early on, then you’ll want to come back for more. I thought we just needed to do something a little more different that catered to the dreamers of the game."

As mentioned before, the 2013 Millionaire Maker is pretty close to a typical WSOP Main Event field size. However, Stewart doesn't quite see this new tourney eclipsing the ME's field just yet. "I absolutely think that the Main Event will attract a bigger field," predicted Stewart. "I also think that everyone that came here today will try like mad to come back for the Main Event. There is probably also a ton of people who will play the main who weren’t able to be here today. However, it is in the top 10 for the biggest poker tournament ever held and is the biggest single day poker tournament by a landslide."

At the time of this writing, there are 862 players left in the 2013 WSOP Millionaire Maker. The top 648 entrants are going to cash, with the minimum payout being $2,740. Anybody who makes the final table is guaranteed at least $105,154, which is quite a prize for a $1,500 buy-in.