Official Chip Counts

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

The official chip counts from the end of Day 1 have been released by the casino. Raj Patel, who won this event a year ago, leads the way with 192,000. A few of the big names near the top of the leaderboard are Barry Greenstein (156,200), Erick Lindgren (131,800), and Ted Forrest (99,725). Here is the complete leaderboard: 1. Raj Patel - 192,000 2. Paul Snead - 182,775 3. Brock Parker - 180,475 4. Barry Greenstein - 156,200 5. Kevin Mason - 144,050 6. Erick Lindgren - 131,800 7. Kenny Chanthamala - 125,778 8. Robert Richardson - 107,425 9. Eugene Katchalov - 105,525 10. Ken Adams - 103,775 11. Emil Patel - 102,100 12. Dick Carson - 100,625 13. Ted Forrest - 99,725 14. Paul Spitzberg - 99,275 15. Matt Wolf - 98,200 16. John Sass - 97,200 17. Antonio Cavezza - 95,500 18. John Sandberg - 94,925 19. Samuel Hernandez - 92,250 20. Bob Courtney - 92,100 21. Erik Seidel - 91,700 22. Alex Kamberis - 91,375 23. Matthew Supinski - 89,975 24. Hoyt Corkins - 87,900 25. Nam Le - 87,600 26. Todd Rebello - 85,450 27. Attilo Bitondo - 85,000 28. David Lehman - 82,300 29. Pey Lee - 81,550 30. Michael Farris - 80,550 31. Matthew Ehrlich - 80,300 32. Men "The Master" Nguyen - 79,475 33. Steve Winstein - 79,425 34. Chris Dombrowski - 77,575 35. Adam Katz - 77,125 36. Rich Meli - 75,450 37. Bob Lauria - 74,200 38. Joe Sebok - 73,875 39. Mike Santoro - 72,000 40. Jesse Martin - 71,975 41. Daniel Woolson - 71,600 42. Alan Goehring - 71,175 43. Chris Reslock - 71,000 44. Dan Pelletier - 70,350 45. Ron Rhoads - 70,000 46. Alan Heimiller - 69,000 47. Vinny Napolitano - 69,000 48. James Petrillo - 67,525 49. Allen Bari - 67,450 50. Shane Schleger - 67,300 51. Chris McCormack - 67,000 52. Eddie Ting - 66,500 53. Svetlana Gromenkova - 65,550 54. Elmer Lynn - 65,250 55. Philip Consolo - 64,125 56. Patrick Reilly - 64,100 57. Jim Silva - 63,150 58. Soheil Shamseddin - 61,700 59. Young Phan - 61,550 60. Alex Bolotin - 61,050 61. Sean Burstein - 59,800 62. Jimmie Guinther - 59,175 63. Matt Giannetti - 58,900 64. James Kelley - 58,800 65. Kush Patel - 58,575 66. Brian Haveson - 58,500 67. Tom Penikas - 58,425 68. Vincent Procopio - 58,025 69. Joe Przybycien - 58,000 70. Bill Edler - 57,800 71. Matthew Crawley - 57,475 72. Kevin Lim - 56,625 73. Bart Hanson - 56,400 74. Chuck Kelley - 56,250 75. James Lee - 55,550 76. James Martin - 55,125 77. Joe Simmons - 54,225 78. Paul Darden - 54,150 79. Stephen Ladowsky - 54,000 80. Joseph Johanssy - 53,850 81. Jack D'Agostino - 53,575 82. Bill Spadea - 52,700 83. Greg Monaldi - 52,650 84. David Kopp - 52,175 85. Johnny Landreth - 52,025 86. Jonathan Lewis - 50,725 87. James Nelson - 50,550 88. David Stefanski - 50,075 89. David Dicken - 49,600 90. Zachary Schwartz - 49,400 91. Luke Vrabel - 48,300 92. Konstantinos Katikakis - 48,225 93. Eugene Fouksman - 48,200 94. Natale Kuey - 47,850 AVERAGE - 47,615 95. Micah Raskin - 47,525 96. Mike Vela - 47,400 97. Steve Buckner - 47,300 98. Jay Zimmet - 46,900 99. Mike Siwek - 46,425 100. Justin Pechie - 46,075 101. Mike Sica - 45,575 102. Amanda Johnson - 45,300 103. John Juanda - 45,275 104. Edward Sabat - 45,225 105. Joe Cutler - 44,525 106. Laurie Hilton - 43,750 107. Benny Bianco - 43,400 108. Jim Ahern - 43,275 109. Leonard Sheer - 42,425 110. Matt Brady - 41,850 111. Shankar Pillai - 41,325 112. Randy Spain - 41,325 113. Nenad Medic - 41,250 114. Benjamin Zamani - 40,975 115. Jason Suh - 40,400 116. Beth Shak - 38,400 117. Michael Martin - 37,800 118. Sirous Jamshidi - 37,200 119. John Malley - 36,950 120. Narendra Banwari - 36,825 121. Scott Blackman - 35,200 122. John Gordon - 35,050 123. Neil Webber - 34,750 124. Nick Vasiliadis - 34,000 125. Ylong Schwartz - 33,775 126. Joseph Martucci - 33,500 127. Nick Binger - 33,275 128. Paul Matteo - 33,150 129. Jacob Pigeon - 32,800 130. Mark Dickstein - 32,350 131. "Action" Bob Hwang - 32,150 132. Michael Omelchuk - 31,950 133. Tim West - 31,900 134. Bryan Trout - 31,450 135. Everett Carlton - 31,375 136. Farhad Sinaei - 31,200 137. Jeff Lavender - 31,100 138. Vinny Pahuja - 30,600 139. Kathy Liebert - 30,500 140. Itai Benosh - 30,475 141. David Harris - 30,425 142. Eddie Gravalese - 30,375 143. Chris Bell - 30,125 144. Walter Siggins - 30,000 145. Joe Tehan - 29,600 146. Mike Leah - 29,400 147. Steve Brecher - 29,025 148. Joanne Monteavaro - 28,775 149. Adam Lippert - 28,025 150. Richard Fohrenbach - 27,875 151. Clinton Cockburn - 27,800 152. Leonard Cortellino - 27,800 153. Gary Medeiros - 27,725 154. Clint Schafer - 27,525 155. Joanne Dorin - 27,325 156. Angela Raimondi - 27,225 157. Phil Bodey - 26,900 158. David Weisberger - 26,825 159. John Kranyak - 26,250 160. Frank Cieri - 26,075 161. Tim Maxwell - 26,075 162. Luis Coriano - 25,975 163. Nemat Ebeid-Ishak - 25,575 164. Jeff King - 25,425 165. Eugene Todd - 25,075 166. Kevin Lang - 24,925 167. Reuben Peters - 24,550 168. Steve Daniel - 24,475 169. Roberto Matic - 24,300 170. Bernard Letzinger - 23,725 171. Francis Cipriano - 23,625 172. Danny Wong - 22,475 173. Aditya Agarwal - 22,325 174. Will "The Thrill" Failla - 21,700 175. Garrett Beckman - 21,475 176. Joe DiMartino - 21,100 177. Ted Karidis - 21,000 178. Joey Brooks - 20,950 179. Eric Lynch - 20,650 180. Dan Hicks - 20,625 181. Ilya Trincher - 20,375 182. Edward Brogdon - 20,350 183. Kenna James - 20,225 184. John Spadavecchia - 19,900 185. Anthony Newman - 19,825 186. Gordon Eng - 19,750 187. Hevad "Rain" Khan - 19,450 188. Mark Zulkiewicz - 19,325 189. Shane LaBounty - 19,025 190. Ken Hoey - 18,750 191. Eracles Panayiotou - 18,750 192. Ronald Maset - 18,700 193. Lawrence Jacobs - 18,575 194. Matt Woodards - 18,525 195. Anthony Campagna - 16,975 196. Jaime Kaplan - 16,875 197. Phil Ivey - 16,400 198. Bill Gagnon - 16,375 199. Spiro Mitrokostas - 15,750 200. Bill Gazes - 15,075 201. John Niceforo - 15,000 202. Ben Drokin - 14,375 203. Michael Simpson - 13,525 204. Roland Israelashvili - 13,425 205. Adam Levy - 13,375 206. Dan Shak - 13,250 207. Victor Ramdin - 13,200 208. Tony Cousineau - 13,100 209. Derek Feldman - 12,150 210. Joseph Cappello - 12,100 211. Jesse Rockowitz - 11,125 212. J.C. Tran - 11,000 213. Jamie Rosen - 9,650 214. Frederick Hood - 8,875 215. Rob D'Agostino - 6,725 216. Andrew Barta - 6,225 217. Billy Pilossoph - 6,175 218. Arthur Azen - 5,000 Day 2 begins at 12:00 noon ET, and we will continue to provide full coverage, with chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.

Foxwoods Poker Classic Day 1

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Raj Patel Begins his Title Defense Strong as the Day 1 Chip Leader By Ryan Lucchesi Action began on day 1 of the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Poker Classic at noon, and at the start of the day 338 players were registered to play, but quite a few of them were not in their seats. A large contingent of the field arrived late (it was not uncommon for some tables to start play five-handed), but by the end of the first level everyone had arrived and a field of 346 players was present and accounted for in their seats. This made the first-place prize $967,300, along with a $25,500 seat at the WPT Championship later this month. The professionals present were spread out evenly amongst the field. No stacked tables emerged on the first day of this perennial stop on the WPT schedule, which gave the professionals time to stretch their wings against green opponents. The 30,000 starting stacks also ensured that a lot of post-flop poker would rule the day. More than half the field survived day 1, and 218 players will return for another five levels of poker tomorrow. Reigning Card Player Player of the Year, David "The Dragon" Pham, was the first professional player to bust out of the tournament with just 20 minutes remaining in the first level. According to Michael Binger, Pham sat down and played nearly every hand, losing all but one. His final hand saw him short stacked with 2,500, and he moved it all in with A-10 against his opponent's A-J. The board didn't help him and he was out the door. Other early eliminations included Amnon Filippi, Noah Schwartz (who was coolered with pocket kings against pocket aces), Hasan Habib, Isaac Haxton, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, Bernard Lee, Justin Bonomo, Lee Markholt (who is fresh off of his first WPT title victory at the World Poker Challenge), Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, and T.J. Cloutier. Nam Le took a much different path than the Dragon early in the day when he nearly doubled up during level one. Le limped under the gun for 200, and a few other players called before Steve Fiorentini raised from the button to 1,100. Le made the call and everyone else mucked. The flop came 10-high with two rags and Le checked. Fiorentini bet 2,000 and Le made the call. The turn card was another rag, Le checked, Fiorentini bet 5,000, and Le check-raised to 12,500. Fiorentini moved all in with pocket aces and Le immediately called with pocket tens for top set. The river card was a blank, and Le eliminated Fiorentini to jump to the top of the leader board. Le took advantage of this early victory and he was among the chip leaders all day. He finished the day with 87,600. Le was joined at the top early by Brock Parker, who built a ridiculous stack of 165,000, when the average stack was just 33,376. Other big names rose to the top in the early going: Men "The Master" Nguyen built his stack up to 92,000, and Barry Greenstein built his stack to 105,000. Paul Snead (168,500) closed in on the chip lead as well late in the day, and he gained most of his chips in a monster hand: The betting amounts were unknown on a board of 1087K, but Ryan "toetagu" Fair was all in and Jimmy Kohl made the call. Snead moved all in over the top and Kohl thought for a bit before deciding that he couldn't get away from the hand. All three players then anxiously turned over their hands: Fair: 97 Kohl: 87 Snead: K10 The river was the 3 and Snead, who had both players covered, sent two opponents to the rail and grabbed a ton of chips. The end of the night carried a business-as-usual tone into the final bell, which rang at 8:30 p.m. During the last part of the day, two big developments took place. One was quite loud; as Steve Buckner let out a flurry of celebration when he hit a heart flush on the river against an opponent's set of queens. Buckner started shouting, "Let me suck out one time! Let me suck out one time!" He then paraded past other tables, getting louder and louder, pumping his arms and kicking his legs to punctuate the cheer. The tournament came to a stop to watch his display, which lasted for a minute, and by the time it came to a close there was a mix of cheers and jeers from the other players in the room. The second notable event of the evening involved the start of what could be a strong title defense by last year's winner. During the last half hour of the day, the 2007 Foxwoods Poker Classic champion, Raj Patel, chipped up in a major way and took the lead. He held 194,000 as time expired, and ended the day with 192,050. A few other professional were lost before the end of the night, but the majority of the field still remained. Among the fallen late in the day were Nick Schulman, David Williams, Sully Erna, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, John "The Razor" Phan, Alex Jacob, and Tuan Le. Here is a list of all of the players who hold at least 100,000 heading into day 2: 1. Raj Patel: 192,000 2. Paul Snead: 182,775 3. Brock Parker: 180,475 4. Barry Greenstein: 156,200 5. Kevin Mason: 144,050 6. Erick Lindgren: 131,800 7. Kenny Chanthamala: 125,778 8. Robert T. Richardson: 107,425 9. Eugene Katchalov: 105,525 10. Ken Adams: 103,775 11. Emil Patel: 102,100 12. Dick Carson: 100,625 The remaining field of 218 will return tomorrow at noon, and then play another five levels to get one day closer to crowning a 2008 champion. We will see if Patel can further his run at back-to-back titles tomorrow. Check back here for all the action in live updates, chips counts, photos and videos.

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day - Raj Patel

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Justin 'looshle' Pechie Kenna's Arch Nemesis

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

The Over-100,000-in-Chips Club

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

It's going to be a while before we get the official Day 1 results from the casino, but we scanned the room at the end of the day for players with more than 100,000 in chips. 1. Raj Patel - 192,000 2. Paul Snead - 182,775 3. Brock Parker - 180,475 4. Barry Greenstein - 156,200 5. Kevin Mason - 144,050 6. Erick Lindgren - 131,800 7. Kenny Chanthamala - 125,778 8. Robert T. Richardson - 107,425 9. Eugene Katchalov - 105,525 10. Ken Adams - 103,775 11. Emil Patel - 102,100 12. Dick Carson - 100,625 A full list of chip counts will be available later tonight. Day 2 begins tomorrow at 12:00 noon ET.

Day 1 Ends

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

The first day of play has come to a close. The official chips counts and a recap of day 1 action will be posted a little bit later. Day 2 begins tomorrow at noon EDT.

Paul Spitzberg Gets Lucky

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Paul Spitzberg and his opponent get it all in on the turn of a K-10-8-X board. Spitzberg shows K-Q, but his opponent has a temporary lead with K-8. The river is a Queen, and Spitzberg takes the pot with with a better two pair and now has just under 50,000.

New Chip Leader

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Last year's champion Raj Patel has taken the chip lead. Patel now leads the tournament with 194,000. There are 226 players remaining with only 30 minutes left in play.

Chris Bell Doubles Up

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Gavin Smith raises under the gun to 1,800, Chris Bell moves all in from early position for 9,500, and the button raises to 20,000. Gavin folds, and Bell shows AK. The button shows 1010, and it's a race situation. The board comes K2265, and Chris Bell pairs his king on the flop to win the pot and double up to 21,375.

You Have to Pay to See Steve Buckner's Cards

Level 27: 60,000-120,000, 15,000 ante

Steve Buckner continues to add chips to his stack, up from just 9,000 last level to now over 55,000. Not only is Buckner winning pots, but he is also getting paid cold hard cash to do so. In a three way pot with three clubs on the turn, Buckner moves all in after a series of bets and raises and one of the players in the pot mucks his cards after five minutes in the tank. He offers Buckner $100 cash to see his cards and Buckner complies, turning over two clubs for the flush. Buckner rakes anther pot and put a c-note in his pocket.