Day 1 of the World Poker Challenge

The World Poker Challenge here in Reno has been a staple on the World Poker Tour since its inception six years ago, but despite its rich history, the tournament is not included on the season VII schedule. As a result of the decision, along with other competition in various parts of the country, the $7,500 buy-in tournament attracted just 261 players, down from last year’s count of 425. The resulting prize pool yielded a first-place prize just short of $500,000.

The day started with a bit of controversy as many of the well-known professionals who registered late were all seated with each other at the far end of the room, while the local satellite winners all kept each other company on the other side. The tremendously stacked tables featured some of the game’s best, and not much else in terms of dead money.

While many complained about their situation, Mike Matusow chose to look at it optimistically, stating he was happy to have the aggressive John Phan to his direct right. Matusow got his wish when Phan called his all in with A-J against his A-Q, but Phan caught a jack on the flop to send The Mouth packing.

Perhaps the biggest disputant of the stacked-table situation was Greg Mueller. Mueller, who was at one point threatened with an expulsion if his complaints continued, was fortunate enough to survive his table draw but not the aggressive play of George Panagakis. Mueller was all in for a 55,000 pot with top two pair against Panagakis’ open-ended straight draw. The river came in the form of a cruel eight-outer and Mueller was eliminated from the tournament.

The field continued to shrink throughout the schedule of nine 75-minute levels, and many top pros were sent to the rail. Among the fallen were Jonathan Little, Joe Sebok, Men Nguyen, Lee Watkinson, Jerry Yang, Gavin Smith, Barry Greenstein, and defending champion J.C. Tran.

During the last level of play, Phil Ivey made his usual expected surge for the chip lead. On a flop of 9 8 7, Ivey bet 4,000 from late position, and the button raised to 12,000. Ivey called, and the turn brought the 10. Ivey bet 20,000, and the button decided to just call. The river was the 3, and Ivey moved all in for 54,000. His opponent called, showing J 10 for a flopped straight, but Ivey turned over A 9 for the nut flush to double up to 160,000. This was a pretty impressive feat, considering he overslept for an hour past the dinner break, blinding down to just over 10,000 in chips before beginning his comeback.

At around 1:30 a.m. PDT, play finally concluded for the day, and the final 75 players bagged and tagged their chips. Play will resume tomorrow at noon and continue until 27 players remain at the final three tables.

Here are the top 10 stacks remaining: