Bodog Beat

Bodog online poker player Jonathan "UFPokerStar" Westra survived Day 1 of the WPT World Poker Challenge. (Bodog Beat Image)

The WPT World Poker Challenge did draw a large concentration of big name poker pros, much as we predicted yesterday. You may begin referring to us collectively as "Nostradamus" ("Nostradami"?).

Anyway, according to CardPlayer.com, the tables were so stacked that poker pro Greg "FBT" Mueller was vociferously complaining to the point that tournament officials threatened to chuck him from the poker room. He then busted out against a no-name amateur when his opponent caught an eight-outer. Cruel irony will get you every time.

Spotted out in the field, and the sources of Mueller's distress, were Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Amnon Filippi, Layne Flack, Joe Sebok, TJ Cloutier, no-longer-defending champ JC Tran, 2007 WSOP champ Jerry Yang, Team Bodog members David Williams and Justin Bonomo, Gavin Smith, Johnathan "FieryJustice" Little, Mike Matusow and just a whole lot more. Unfortunately, much like Mueller, none of them made it through the day.

So, you may ask, if all of those players busted out, who is left? Well, now we're looking at a field of 75 remaining players with an even higher concentration of talent. At the top of that pile is poker pro Phil Ivey, who is coming off an impressive win at the WPT LA Poker Classic. Behind him are Eli Elezra, Bill Edler, Erick Seidel, Erick Lindgren, Michael, Mizrachi, David "The Dragon" Pham, Ted Forrest, Huch Seed and Brandon Cantu.

Also surviving to head into Day 2 are Team Bodog online poker players Jonathan "UFPokerStar" Westra and Ari "BodogAri" Engel. Both are sitting right in the middle of the pack with plenty of chips to make a move when lay gets underway in about five hours.

Day 2 will see the field narrow down to 27 players, which is also when the money bubble bursts. That means that the end of the day today will be excruciatingly slooooooooooooooooooow. We're sure you can get an idea of how slow via the live updates over at CardPlayer.com. Or, come back here tomorrow for a concise wrap up of play. Your choice.