WPT World Championship, Day 1 Recap

The eighth season of the World Poker Tour is coming to a conclusion with the $25,000 WPT World Championship. In addition to the prizepool and the title of WPT Champion, there is also a hotly-contested Player of the Year race nearing the finish line.

Day 1 began shortly after 12:00 noon PT with 117 players, and another 44 players signed up during the day to increase the field size to 161. Registration remains open until about 5:00 pm PT on Day 2, and we expect the field to approach 200 players.

Everyone who registers overnight will begin play with a full starting stack of 100,000, which is still worth 125 big blinds at the start of Day 2. That's much better than the players who busted on Day 1, or those returning to Day 2 with a short stack.

But some players made the most of their Day 1. Here's a look at the Top 10 chip counts with 138 players remaining:

1. Shawn Buchanan - 388,600
2. Brian Lemke - 298,825
3. David Benyamine - 291,275
4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 277,375
5. Soheil Shamseddin - 244,000
6. Chris Moore - 243,700
7. Cody Slaubaugh - 231,300
8. Phil Ivey - 230,250
9. Todd Terry - 213,825
10. Christian Harder - 211,675

Faraz Jaka finished the day in 95th place with 86,325. Jaka leads the WPT Player of the Year race, but his lead is far from safe. Among the chipleaders, Soheil Shamseddin could catch him with a third-place (or higher) finish, and Todd Terry could catch Jaka with a fourth-place (or higher) finish. Another 25 players or so are also in the running if they reach the final table. Of course, Jaka controls his own destiny as long as he is still alive in the tournament.

Bellagio is running another satellite this evening to add players to the field, and we expect a fresh group of players (including Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, and Tom "Durrrr" Dwan) to buy in before registration closes.

Return to WorldPokerTour.com tomorrow (Monday) at 12:00 noon PT for continuing live coverage of the WPT World Championship and the hotly-contested WPT Player of the Year race.

Sorted In: Featured Blog, Faraz Jaka, Shawn Buchanan, Brian Lemke, Tournaments, Bellagio, WPT World Championship, Season 8 on FSN, Season VIII
12:20 AM, 04/19/10

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RANKING

1	David Williams	$1,530,537
2	Eric Baldwin	$1,034,715
3	Shawn Buchanan	$587,906
4	David Benyamine	$329,228
5	Billy Baxter	$246,921
6	John O'Shea	$199,888

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Payout Structure

Place	Prize
1	$1,530,537
2	$1,034,715
3	$587,906
4	$329,228
5	$246,921
6	$199,888
7	$152,856
8	$105,823
9	$75,252
10 - 12	$56,439
13 - 15	$51,736
16 - 18	$47,033

Level	Blinds	Ante
1	100-200	0
2	100-200	25
3	150-300	25
4	200-400	50
5	300-600	75
6	400-800	100
7	500-1,000	100
8	600-1,200	200
9	800-1,600	200
10	1,000-2,000	300
11	1,200-2,400	300
12	1,500-3,000	400
13	2,000-4,000	400
14	2,500-5,000	500
15	3,000-6,000	500
16	4,000-8,000	1,000
17	5,000-10,000	1,000
18	6,000-12,000	2,000
19	8,000-16,000	2,000
20	10,000-20,000	3,000
21	12,000-24,000	3,000
22	15,000-30,000	4,000
23	20,000-40,000	4,000
24	25,000-50,000	5,000
25	30,000-60,000	5,000
26	40,000-80,000	10,000
27	50,000-100,000	10,000
28	60,000-120,000	15,000
29	80,000-160,000	15,000
30	100,000-200,000	20,000
31	120,000-240,000	20,000
32	150,000-300,000	25,000
33	200,000-400,000	25,000
34	300,000-600,000	50,000
35	400,000-800,000	75,000
36	500,000-1,000,000	100,000

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World Poker Tour

WPT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Faraz Jaka Survives A Record Number of Challengers to Win WPT Player of the Year

David Williams Finds a Way to Win at the WPT Championship

David Williams is the Season VIII WPT World Champion!

Hand #136: David Williams Wins!

Hand #114: Shawn Buchanan Eliminated in 3rd Place ($587,906)

Hand #104: David Benyamine Eliminated in 4th Place ($329,228)

Hand #92: Eric Baldwin Doubles Through David Williams

Hand #82: David Benyamine Doubles Through Shawn Buchanan

Hand #79: Eric Baldwin Doubles Through David Williams

Hand #77: Shawn Buchanan Doubles Through Eric Baldwin

Hand #46: Billy Baxter Eliminated in 5th Place ($246,921)

Hand #39: David Williams Wins a 4.4 Million Pot Against Billy Baxter

Hand #14: John O'Shea Eliminated in 6th Place ($199,888)

Hellmuth's Antics Headline Long and Crazy Playdown Day

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day

David Williams - 4,700,000

Eric Baldwin - 4,490,000

Billy Baxter - 2,440,000

Shawn Buchanan - 1,965,000

John O'Shea - 1,200,000

Hands #196-197: Phil Hellmuth TV Bubbles in 7th Place ($152,856)

Hand #157: Phil Hellmuth Folds A-K Preflop to Eric Baldwin

Hand #145: Scotty Nguyen Eliminated in 8th Place ($105,823)

Hand #94: Phil Hellmuth's Epic Banter With David Benyamine

Hand #87: Shawn Buchanan Verbally Scares Phil Hellmuth Out of a Pot

Hands #43-44: Nikolay Evdakov Eliminated in 9th Place ($75,252)

Hands #40-42: Phil Hellmuth Doubles Through and Cripples Nikolay Evdakov

Hand #37: Scotty Nguyen vs. John O'Shea in a Huge Pot

Hand #16: Phil Hellmuth Gets the Most Out of Folding His Small Blind

Hands #10-11: Cliff Josephy Eliminated in 10th Place ($56,439)

Jaka's Surprise Exit Highlights Day 5 Action

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player - David Williams

Eric Baldwin Doubles Through (& Tilts) Phil Hellmuth

Cliff Josephy Moves In Against Phil Hellmuth And Gets Him Talking

2009 Card Player POY Eric Baldwin

WPT Player of the Year Race: Update

POY Leader Faraz Jaka Eliminated in 14th Place ($51,736)

POY Contender Josh Arieh Eliminated in 16th Place ($47,033)

POY Contender Matt Stout Eliminated in 17th Place ($47,033)

Billy Baxter Wins a Pot Worth 1.7 Million Against Faraz Jaka

Tony Cousineau Talks About Laying Down Kings on Day 4

Faraz Jaka Leads the Field and the POY Race

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player - Faraz Jaka

Heather Sue Mercer Eliminated by Faraz Jaka

Faraz Jaka Controlling His Own Destiny

Phil Hellmuth Wants a Second Chance Against Eric Baldwin -- Reversing the Cards

Schedule Update: Play Down to 18 Today

David Williams Gunning For Almonds

Unbelievable! 40% of the Field is Battling for WPT Player of the Year

Josh Arieh Gaining Confidence

As Seen on TV

WPT Player of the Year Race: 11 Players in the Running

Players Who Started on Day 2: How Are They Doing?

Shawn Buchanan Keeps Dominating on Day 3

Official Chip Counts & Seating For Day 4

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player - Heather Sue Mercer

Scotty Nguyen Doubles Through Maroun Jazzar

Shawn Buchanan Continues to Crush the Field

WPT Player of the Year Race: 15 Players in the Running

The Bellagio Tsunami, or, The First Annual Bellagio Wet T-Shirt Contest

Justin Young Looking to Improve on Last Year's 8th Place Finish

Phil Hellmuth Has Been Waiting For This Moment Against Dan Smith

Cody Slaubaugh Eliminated By Shawn Buchanan

Phil Don't Preach?

Players Who Started on Day 2: How Are They Doing?

WPT Player of the Year: 22 Players in the Hunt

Official Chip Counts & Seating For Day 3

Faraz Jaka Takes POY Matters Into His Own Hands

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player - Shawn Buchanan

Soheil Being Soheil

Tom "Durrrr" Dwan Eliminated by Faraz Jaka

Official Prizepool Information

The Life and Times of Devilfish

Justin Bonomo Wins a Big Pot Against Brian Lemke To Contend For the Chip Lead

Table #49: Daniel Negreanu Eliminated by James Mackey

Table #49: Daniel Negreanu Crippled by James Mackey

Faraz Jaka Is Chipleader But What's New

Jacque Catches Up With ClubWPT.com's Leron Washington