Bodog Beat

Bodog poker pro David Williams is still alive heading into Day 2 of the WPT World Poker Open. (Bodog Beat Image)

Two flights of Day 1 are dunzo at the WPT World Poker Open, which is taking place at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Miss, and the players will now congregate later today for the beginning of combined play.

With the WSOP Circuit event wrapping up next door and players arriving back in the states from playing down under at the Aussie Millions, the second of the two Day 1 flights drew the largest number of big names pros.

Among those who came out to play and made it through the day include current chip leader and 2006 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year Chad Brown, Erick Lindgren, TJ Cloutier, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa "Duke" Rousso, Michael Mizrachi, Alex Jacob and Team Bodog poker pro David Williams.

All told there are 144 players left to seek the $892,413 first-place prize. Unfortunately for most of the pros who showed up, they were not treated very well upon arrival.

Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson, Andy Black and Robert Mizrachi all busted out during the first rounds of the tournament. As did Bodog pro Josh Arieh, who revealed in a CardPlayer TV interview early in the day that he was seated to the right of John Phan and was getting frustrated with the "Razor"'s trademark pre-flop aggressiveness.

Here are the top-10 chip counts heading into Day 2:

Chad Brown – 112,325
Brett Faustman – 107,700
Michael Postle – 84,600
Jae Chang – 78,275
Micah Raskin – 71,325
Lyle Vincent – 70,100
John Racener – 64,600
Gabe Costner – 64,075
Sean Burstein – 62,525
Jim Rumpitz – 62,100

Play resumes at noon today and will continue until the field has been narrowed to 27. Live updates and chip counts are available at CardPlayer.com.