Phil Ivey Joins Jason Potter at the Top of the Leaderboard Going Into Day Two

Level 6: 400-800, 100 ante

Day 1b of the 2008 World Poker Finals By Tom Bostic Remaining players beware – Phil Ivey has chips after Day One. A lot of chips. As a matter of fact, after 250 players entered Day 1b, Phil Ivey leads them all with 183,675. Widely consider one of the best players in the world (if not the best) Ivey owns one of the most impressive stats in the World Poker Tour Record books. Every time Ivey has cashed - every single time - he has made it to the final 10 players. To reach what would be the average chip stack by the time the money hits, Ivey will only need to accumulate and extra 60,000 in addition to his current stack. With a monster stack and a reputation even larger, Ivey is already a favorite not only to make the money but make yet another deep run. Joining Ivey today were many others tournament circuit regulars and local Foxwoods favorites that helped transform a modest turnout on Day 1a to a stellar 412 player event. Familiar faces like Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Chris “Jesus” Fersuson, and Howard Lederer were seen at the tables today staring down Foxwoods regulars Raj Patel, Frankie Flowers and Lenny Cortellino. They and many others will be playing for their piece of the over $3.875 million prize pool with first place taking down $1,120,310. Tomorrow, 250 players will return for the combined action of Day Two. Here’s a look at some notable chip counts going into the day (For a full list of chip counts, please click on the “chip count” tab on the left hand side of the screen.) Jason "JP OSU" Potter - 183,825 Phil Ivey – 183,825 Richard E. Dabal - 169,150 Vadim Trincher - 163,600 Steve Gross - 145,025 Jonathan Jaffe - 141,000 Kevin "BelowAbove" Saul - 135,350 Jonathan Little - 131,400 Will "The Thrill" Failla - 124,800 Gavin Smith – 124,325 Ray Lynn - 114,750 Frankie Flowers - 108,850 Ryan Young - 106,000 Dan Heimiller - 105,250 Jason Mercier - 103,325 Chris Ferguson – 91,525 Return to WorldPokerTour.com for live coverage of Day Two of the 2008 Foxwoods World Poker Finals tomorrow (Friday) at 12:00 noon ET, including chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Amanda Leatherman.

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day - Phil Ivey

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Day 1b Leaderboard

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

We gathered up the chip counts of everyone who finished the day with more than 100,000 in chips. Here's the top of today's leaderboard: 1. Phil Ivey - 183,675 2. Richard Dabal - 169,150 3. Dimitri Haskaris - 137,000 4. Gavin Smith - 124,325 5. Ray Lynn - 114,750 6. Larry Greenberg - 109,600 7. Frankie Flowers - 108,850 8. Ryan Young - 106,000 9. Dan Heimiller - 105,250 10. Charlie Marchese - 103,775 11. Jason Mercier - 103,325 12. Steve Fiorentini - 102,600 13. Steven Levy - 101,875 14. Jack Schanbacher - 100,025 Phil Ivey came within six green (25) chips of catching the Day 1a chipleader, Jason "JP OSU" Potter. The full list of chip counts will be posted later tonight, once they are released by the casino.

Tonight's Guest on Poker Road Radio: Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson has just sat down for an interview on Poker Road Radio. The finished episode will be up on PokerRoad.com sometime after midnight tonight.

Day 1b Comes to an End

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Day 1b of the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals comes to an end with approximately 155 players remaining. We'll scan the field for the chipleaders, and report back with the top of the leaderboard soon. The full list of official chip counts and a recap of today's action will be posted later this evening.

Men Masters the Table

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

A player under the gun raises to 1,600 and Freddy Deeb, Men Nguyen and the big blind call. The flop comes 932 and the first two players check. Freddy Deeb bets 5,000 and Men "The Master" Nguyen raises to 15,000. Everyone gets out of his way and Nguyen takes the pot.

How Daniel Negreanu Passes the Time, Part II

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

This is a continuation of our earlier post, where Daniel Negreanu passes the time by betting on other people's guesses. For the next bet, Negreanu (seat 3) asks Nick Frangos (seat 1) to guess how old Mike Bernstein (seat 2) was when he lost his virginity. Frangos came up with a number in his head, and then Negreanu and Jason Somerville would bid on that number. Negreanu started by guessing "Over 10." Somerville countered with "12." Negreanu: "14." Somerville: "15." Negreanu: "16." And Somerville called, setting Negreanu's line at 16 years old. During this entire conversation, nobody asked Bernstein for any information, because the truth is irrelevant to this bet -- the only number that matters is Frangos's guess. Frangos says, "16," and Negreanu wins the moneyless bet. Negreanu says he enjoys this style of betting, because the fact that you're betting on someone else's assumptions (rather than actual facts) makes it far more interesting. FYI, if they were betting for money, they would have the original guesses written down first so they couldn't be changed.

Lederer Eliminated After Opponent Only Looks at One Card

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Howard Lederer moves all in and action folds around to Sherwin "The Fox" Agard in the big blind. He starts threatening to only look at one card to make a decision. The table starts goading him on to do so. After shuffling the concealed cards back and forth for a minute he decides to only look at one. He keeps to his word and says "I call"as he flips over the K. To his delight, his other mystery card is the A. He is up against the A3 of Lederer. The board comes K10388, giving Agard the best hand and eliminating Howard Lederer from today's action.

Bill Gazes Doubles Up

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

The player in seat 3 raises before the flop and Bill Gazes moves all in for 10,700 more. Seat 3 tanks before making the call. Gazes: JJ Seat 3: 1010 Board: J845Q Gazes gets it in good with a better pair, flopping a set and doubling up to just about 35,000 this hand.

How Daniel Negreanu Passes the Time, Part I

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

If you've ever watched Daniel Negreanu play a multi-day tournament, you know that he can get bored easily. That's one of the reasons why he talks so much at the tables. Today, he decided to pass the time making bets on players not involved in the bet. It's a little confusing, but here's an example. As Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (early position) and another player (in the big blind) enter a pot to see a flop, Negreanu asks Jason Somerville to decide how many hands that he thinks Ferguson has played to the flop today. Somerville has to come up with a number, but keep it to himself. For the record, the actual number, or Ferguson's opinion, is irrelevant to the bet. Once Somerville has a number in mind, Negreanu and Nick Frangos start bidding to guess the number that Somerville has picked. Frangos starts by picking four, and they continue to pick higher numbers until one of them "calls," and that sets the over-under line. Eventually, Frangos picked 10, Negreanu picked 14, and Frangos called. If Somerville picked 14 or higher, Negreanu would win. Anything lower, and Frangos would win. Of course, they weren't betting any money. Just passing the time. The whole time this bet is going down, Ferguson continues to play the hand. So Somerville finally reveals his number. "Six." Negreanu is shocked, and says, "What!?" Ferguson says, "I don't know what it is, but it's more than six." When everyone laughs at Somerville's number, he says, "That's why I have Poker Tracker online. I don't have to know these things." Meanwhile, Ferguson's hand plays all the way to the river on a board of KJ27J, with a fairly large pot. The big blind shows AK, and he flopped top pair, top kicker. But Ferguson shows AA to win the pot with two pair, aces and jacks. Chris Ferguson now has about 85,000 in chips. It figures that as the table debates how few hands Ferguson has played all day, the hand he shows down is pocket aces.