Day One (C) of the North American Poker Championship

Outwit, outplay, outlast.

No, it's not the motto of your favorite reality game show, it's the mentality of a poker player on day one (C) of the World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship, where the goal is to survive. To Survive the massive field, survive the huge swings, and, ultimately, survive the day.

One hundred and sixty-one players began the last of the three starting days, but after the tribe had spoken, only 82 would remain. Tomorrow, the three fields will join together on a four-day quest to reach the ultimate tribal council, where one of six players will walk away with an estimated $1.4 million.

Jean-Robert Bellande has never been the most popular player on the tournament circuit, but it would be hard to deny his entertainment value, both in the cardroom and on CBS's Survivor: China. He is undoubtedly brash and bold, but it's clear that he's here to play the game, and, just like in Survivor, there is more than one way to play the game.

Bellande started the day off by injecting some life and excitement into an otherwise quiet tournament room when he hit up Mike Matusow and John Phan for some prop betting. It didn't take too long for Phan to lose his bet, when he was ordered to buy the first round of drinks after incorrectly choosing red or black flops. Matusow had a much bigger bet in mind when the two put up $1,800 for a last-longer. This was a bet that Matusow would quickly lose when his two pair couldn't hold up against his opponent's straight and flush draws.

It was clear that Bellande was running good, not only in the side action, but also on the felt, when he was given the gift of a huge stack by the player to his left. A player in seat No. 9 moved all in for almost 14,000 (into a 150 pot) and Bellande made the call with A A. Seat No. 9 tabled A 5 and the board ran out J 6 2 8 6, giving Bellande the massive pot as the rest of the table shook their heads in disbelief.

Bellande spent the next 10 hours bullying his table and picking up pot after pot to take the chip lead. For a while, it seemed like every flop hit him in the face and player after player were sent home by his hand. It wasn't until the last hand of the night that Bellande showed any vulnerability. His pocket kings were cracked by an opponent's pocket fives. Despite ending the day on a sour note, Bellande finished the day as the only person in the field to cross the 200,000-chip mark.

Not everyone was sharing in Bellande's good fortune, however, as Johnny Chan, David Williams, Anna Wroblewski, Danny Wong, and Isabelle Mercier would all hit the rail before the day ended.

Daniel Negreanu greeted his table at the start of the day and he was happy to only recognize David Chiu directly to his right, but Peter "Apathy" Jetten, David Williams, and Greg Mueller joined the table throughout the afternoon to create a tough predicament. Another face he did not recognize was that of Chris "Genius28" Lee, who he has played online in some of the biggest cash games available. Negreanu couldn't get much going, however, and he was eliminated in the fifth level of play.

Tom "durrr" Dwan, another prominent high-stakes online cash-game player, ran into some terrible luck toward the end of the day. With the board showing 9 8 2 Q, Dwan and Eugene Todd found themselves all in with set-over-set. Dwan held pocket nines against Todd's pocket deuces. The two were fairly close in chips and Todd would have been crippled if were not for the 2 on the river, giving him quads and the pot. Dwan slowly walked out of the tournament room in shock as Todd dragged the pot.

Just 45 minutes before play ended for the night, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and the approximately 100 players in the room barely noticed. Dan Harrington and his trademark green Red Sox hat hardly moved, although he may have been concentrating on his short stack rather than the big screen. It seemed to have paid off, however, as a timely double up gave him 32,900 to finish the day.

Play will continue tomorrow at noon EST when the surviving 234 players will combine and play five more levels. Here are the chip leaders and notables from today's action.

Jean-Robert Bellande – 201,100
Scott Clements – 85,400
Nick Schulman – 75,000
Bill Edler – 74,300
John Racener – 63,800
Gus Hansen – 62,000
David Singer – 57,000
Adam "Roothlus" Levy – 49,800
Peter Jetten – 47,500
Alex Bolotin – 47,200