Bodog Beat

Bodog poker pros Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng both made it out of Day 1A of the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic. (Bodog Beat Image)

The Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic's WPT Doyle Brunson Classic championship event (or as the kids call it the BFDWPCWPTDBC) kicked off yesterday with 227 players putting up $15,000 each to buy into one of the most prestigious and popular events of the World Poker Tour. After a moment of silence to honor the passing of poker legend Chip Reese, the cards were dealt and it was game on.

As we pointed out yesterday, the number of poker pros who came out to play in the preliminary events turned out to be a very good indication of how many would turn out for the championship event; the list is practically endless. Team Bodog pros Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng, Erik Seidel, Todd Brunson, Dewey Tomko, Johnathan "FieryJustice" Little, Huck Seed, Johnny Chan, Phil Laak, Max Pescatori, Tom Schneider, Gavin Smith, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Dan Harrington, Shannon Shorr, Daniel Alaei, Clonie Gowen and a whole host of others were among the 190 players who survived Day 1A.

Notable early departures from the tournament included Lee Watkinson, Shawn Sheikhan, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger, Douglas Lee, Kevin "beLOWaBOVe" Saul, David "The Dragon" Pham, Bodog poker pro David Williams, John Juanda, Justin "zeejustin" Bonomo, Bill Edler and Sorel "imper1um" Mizzi, who we have confirmed will not have the opportunity to buy back into the tournament when there are only 24 players left.

Interestingly, three of those names were also at the final table of that last preliminary event that we told you about yesterday. What a fickle game this poker.

Day 1B starts in a few hours and live updates will be available from CardPlayer.com and PokerListings.com.

If you want to play in a WPT event then do it in Bodog style, it's the only way to go. Right now in the Bodog Poker Room you can qualify for a chance to win a $12,000 WPT prize package for as little as a dollar. Considering WPT winners walk away millionaires, the ROI on that makes it stupid not to try. We're not saying that you're stupid if you don't give it a shot, but you are.