World Poker Open Championship Day 1 Recap

Poker News - August 10th, 2009 - Written by Bruce

The $5,000 buy in World Poker Open Championship is under way, and 43 players are remaining after Sunday's day 1 action. This tournament draws a tough field every year, and this year's tournament is no different. When play began there was 126 players who ponied up the $5,000, which created a healthy first prize of $192,000. The chip leader after yesterday's play is Michael Wang. Wang finished Day 1 on a tear, accumulating most of his chips as the day was winding down. He is sitting on a huge stack of 274,800 chips, which is almost twice as many as anybody else in the field. With only twenty five eliminations until the money payouts, Day 2 should be a hard fought day of poker as the players fight for the money. The top 18 finishers will all get paid, earning a minimum of $6,612 for their efforts.

There are some notable poker professionals who participated in this event. Former WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker actually held the chip lead for part of Day 1. When his day was finished, he held an above average stack of 61,200 chips. He was not the only PokerStars poker pro to play in the event, as both Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown both played as well. Rousso lost a key pot on the last hand of the night but is still alive with 46,200 chips. The day ended much better for Chad Brown, as he doubled his chip stack on the last hand of the night to finish with as one of the chip leaders with a stack of 141,900. All three of these players are still in the hunt when they resume play on Monday. Some of the well known players who were not fortunate enough to survive Day 1 are Alan "BodogAri" Engel, Adam Junglen, Soheil Shamseddin, Jordan Smith, Chris Bell, and Shaun Deeb.

Along with the huge payday of $192,000, whoever goes on to win the tournament will also win a $10,000 seat to the World Poker Tour event held at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi on January 10, 2010. Along with the entry into that tournament, whoever wins this $5,000 Word Poker Open will also win a coveted bracelet and a trophy. Last year's winner was Clonie Gowen. She bested a field of 107 players earning $183,000 and the title of World Poker Open champion. Day 2 play will begin on Monday at noon central time. When the day is complete the players remaining should all be in the money payouts, and will be looking to position themselves to make a run at the final table.

To discuss this and other Poker articles like it drop by our brand new forum at:
https://www.usaplayers.com/forums/poker-news/607-world-poker-open-championship-day-1-recap.html#post883