Bodog Beat

Team Bodog poker players Matt Larsh (left) and Matt McCullough are both still in the hunt after Day 1 of the US Poker Championship.

As Day 1 of the US Poker Championship came to a close, the Team Bodog dynamic duo of Matt McCullough and Matt Larsh found themselves sitting pretty despite a field full of landmines.

There are now only 124 players left of the original 164, but that number includes formidable talent in poker pros Jeff Madsen, Victor Ramdin, Steve Dannenman and current chip leader Gavin Smith, defending USPC champ Alex Jacob and online poker phenoms Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy and Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

Does any of this bother WSOP Europe third-place finisher McCullough? Absolutely not. He is known to his fellow Team Bodog members as the "giant killer' after he single handedly sent Phil Hellmuth and Gus Hansen to the rail on the way to his £381,910 payday in London. In fact, he plunked down $10,000 of that cash to get the chance to do it again, and it looks like he's already settled back into his poker groove.

Larsh is using just one of the "Player's Choice" packages that he won at Bodog to enter this tournament. He plays under the online poker name "thatsnice" in the Bodog Poker room and was on a tear all summer, winning a total of two "Player's Choice" packages plus the WSOP Europe VIP package. Needless to say, Larsh is also unafraid of a little competition. The two will be battling their way through this field to take home their share of the almost $1.6 million prizepool, with $606,095 going to the eventual winner.

We're sure neither Matt would be disappointed to take home that tidy sum. Live updates of the action that starts again this afternoon is available at PokerListings.com, so head over and keep an eye on Team Bodog. If you want to be part of Team Bodog at any land-based poker tournament with a $10,000 or less buy-in, then head over to Bodog and qualify for a "Player's Choice" package. If you believe Larsh, they're easy to come by.

UPDATE:  We just got in official chip counts for our intrepid Team Bodog members. Larsh is at $48,900 and McCullough at $23,975. Average chip count is $40k and leader is at $102k.