One of the World Series of Poker's most anticipated events kicked off yesterday, as poker heavyweights battled it out in a $40,000 no-limit Hold'em tournament.
At the end of the day only 89 players remained out of a field of 201. The tournament is the largest no-limit Hold'em event ever held in the U.S., and the winner will earn $1,891,012.
The $40,000 tournament is in honor of the WSOP 40th anniversary. The field had 52 players who had won a WSOP bracelet.
Bruno Fitoussi is the chip leader with 812,500, while 2003 Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker is right behind with 805,000.
A number of poker giants were knocked out in Day One, including former bracelet winners Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Annie Duke, Erick Lindgren, David Benyamine and Barry Greenstein. Former Main Event winners Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen and Johnny Chan were also knocked out.
Tom "durrrr" Dwan was among the high-profile non-bracelet winners who did not survive Day One.
The most star-studded knockout of the day involved Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth. According to the WSOP Web site, Ivey raised from middle position. Hellmuth moved all in for approximately 90,000 from the small blind and Ivey called. Hellmuth showed A-J and Ivey showed A-K. A King fell on the flop and Ivey's hand held up, knocking out Hellmuth.
Hellmuth battled with Alan "TheUsher" Sass earlier in the day, and he was not impressed with Sass' play. Hellmuth wrote this on his Twitter account: "The worst player at the table:, Alan (Sass), just almost busted me! sick hand! but i give him credit as he made a great call on river..."
He went on to tell Bluff Magazine that "the most horrible players in the world beat me."
There are still a number of superstars still alive after the first day of action, including Ivey, Greg Raymer, David Pham, Mike Matusow, Vanessa Rousso, Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and David Chiu.
Play continues today at 2 p.m. Here are the top-10 chip counts:
1. Bruno Fituossi - 812,500
2. Chris Moneymaker - 805,500
3. Justin Bonomo - 738,000
4. Alexander Veldhuis - 646,500
5. Kyle "krisqueen" Wilson - 611,500
6. Brian Townsend - 609,000
7. Michael DeMichele - 519,500
8. Emil "whitelime" Patel - 494,500
9. Alan "TheUsher" Sass - 491,000
10. Andrew Black - 449,500
A list of all the participants:
ADAMS, GEORGE
ALAEI, DANIEL
ARIEH, JOSHUA
BAILEY, TERRY
BAKER, DAVID
BARON, ISAAC
BARTA, BALINT
BATISTA, CHAD
BECHTEL, JAMES
BEEN, AARON
BENEFIELD, DAVID
BENYAMINE, DAVID
BILLIRAKIS, STEVE
BINGER, MICHAEL
BLACK, ANDREW
BLOCH, ANDREW
BONOMO, JUSTIN
BOUCHER, PHILIPPE
BRENES, JOSE
BRUNSON, DOYLE
BUCHANAN, SHAWN
CAHAIL, BLAKE
CALDERARO, JAMES
CASILLAS, ERIK
CHAN, TERRENCE
CHAN, JON
CHANG, WEIKAI
CHANNING, NEIL
CHEN, WILLIAM
CHIU, DAVID
CHRISS, NEIL
COLE, CORWIN
COLIN, BRYAN
CORKINS, HOYLT
DEEB, SHAUN
DEEB, KASSEM "FREDDY"
DEMICHELE, MICHAEL
DEMIDOV, IVAN
DEMJAN, SANDOR
DICKSTEIN, MARK
DORFMAN, RANDY
DOSHI, SURESH
DUKE, ANNIE
DUTHIE, JOHN
DWAN, THOMAS
EASTGATE, PETER
EDLER, WILLIAM
EINHORN, DAVID
ELEZRA, ELIAHU
ESFANDIARI, ANTONIO
ESLAMI, SHAHRYAR
EVDAKOV, NIKOLAY
FALTINSKY, RAYMOND
FERGUSON, CHRISTOPHER
FITOUSSI, BRUNO
FORREST, WILLIAM
GALFOND, PHILIP
GARZA, JEFFREY
GASPARD, JEAN
GERASIMOV, KIRILL
GEYER, RICHARD
GIANG, CHAU
GIANNETTI, MATTHEW
GLANTZ, MATTHEW
GOULD, PETER
GREENSTEIN, BARRY
GRIFFIN, GAVIN
GROSPELLIER, BERTRAND
GROSS, STEVEN
GUOGA, ANTANAS "TONY G"
HABIB, HASAN
HACHEM, JOSEPH
HAMAGAMI, CLARK
HARDER, CHRISTIAN'
HARMAN, JENNIFER
HARMETZ, DANIEL
HAXTON, ISAAC BLUM
HELLMUTH, PHILLIP
HOOD, DANIEL
HOUSHIAR, HOMAN
IVEY, PHILLIP
JACOB, ALEX
JETTEN, PETER C
JOHNSON, MARCO
JUANDA, JOHNSON
JUNGLEN, ADAM
KAGAWA, MASAAKI
KASSELA, FRANK
KEATING, ALEXANDER
KELOPURO, SAMI
KESSELMAN, ERIC
KINKADE, JAY
KOSTRITSYN, ALEXANDER
KUCINSKI, MICHAEL
LAAK, PHILIP
LACAY, LUDOVIC
LANGMANN, FLORIAN
LAWSON, TED
LE, NAMTHIEN
LEDERER, HOWARD
LEE, DOUGLAS
LEHMANN, MARKUS
LEHR, CHARLES
LEVI, NICOLAS
LICHTENBERGER, A
LIEBERT, KATHLEEN
LINDGREN, ERICK
LISANDRO, JEFFREY
LITTLE, JONATHAN
LIU, ERIC
LUNKIN, VITALY
MACKEY, JAMES
MACKINNON, DOUGLAS
MAKHIJA, AMIT
MAO, JAMES
MARAFIOTI, MATTHEW
MARCHESE, THOMAS
MARKHOLT, LEE
MATUSOW, MICHAEL
MCNIFF, EVAN
MEDIC, NENAD
MERCER, HEATHER
MERCIER, JASON
MERRIFIELD, STEVEN
MINIERI, DARIO
MIZZI, SOREL
MOLSON, WILLIAM
MONEYMAKER, CHRISTOPHER
MONRO, JOSEF
MONTGOMERY, SCOTT
MOORE, CHRISTOPHER
MOORMAN, CHRISTOPHER
MUELLER, GREG
NEGREANU, DANIEL
NGUYEN, SCOTTY
PATEL, EMIL
PERRY, RAFAEL
PHAM, DAVID
PHAM, THANG
PHAN, THIEN
PHILLIPS, DENNIS
PILGRIM, DWYTE
PINCHOT, DALE
POWELL, BRIAN
RAFALOWICZ, JEREMY
RAJKUMAR, VIVEK
RAST, BRIAN
RAYMER, GREGORY
REINKEMEIER, TOBIAS
RICHEY, BRETT
ROBERTS, BRIAN
ROBL, ANDREW
ROSEN, STEPHEN
ROSENBLUM, RUSSELL
ROSENKRANTZ, JASON
ROUAS, PHILIPPE
ROUSSO, VANESSA
RYBACHENKO, SERGEY
SASS, ALAN
SCHNELLER, ARIEL
SCHWARTZ, NOAH
SCHWARTZ, BARRY
SCOTT, ANDREW
SEED, HUCKLEBERRY
SEIF, MARK
SEIVER, SCOTT
SHAK, DANIEL
SHAKERCHI, TALAL
SHORR, SHANNON
SINGER, DAVID
SIPPL, ROGER
SMITH, GAVIN
SMITH, JUSTIN
STAUDENMAIER, LUKE
STEICKE, DAVID
STERN, DANIEL
STRASSMANN, JOHANNES
SUER, ROBERT
SUNG, SUK
THURITZ, MIKAEL
TIMOSHENKO, YEVGENIY
TOM, PHILIP
TORELLI, ALEC
TOWNSEND, BRIAN
TRAN, JUSTIN
TRAN, KENNY
TRANIELLO, MARCO
ULLIOTT, DAVID
UMMER, PER MAGNUS
VELDHUIS, ALEXANDER
WAHLBECK, VILLE
WALKER, REID
WATSON, MICHAEL
WEINSTEIN, STEVEN
WILLIAMS, DAVID
WILSON, KYLE
WOODWAARD, MATTHEW
YAWITZ, JESS
ZAICHENKO, ANDREY
ZEIDMAN, CORY
ZOLOTOW, STEPHEN
