He may not have needed Day One of play, but Daniel Negreanu did need five entries before the re-entry period concluded on Day 2 at the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Given that it is the Five Diamond, perhap the five buy-ins is fitting. After all, the Season III Five Diamond Champion is one of a just a couple of players to finish the day with more than 200,000 chips. While his 224,600 is certainly good for a top ten stack, Negreanu will not begin Day 3 of the action as the chip leader.
That honor appears to belong to Iulian Iacob (pictured), who bagged up 288,700. Hot on his heels is Larry Greenberg with 282,000, and Farshad Fardad, who spent a productive day seated in Bobby’s Room before ending the day with 261,900.
Reigning champion in this event, Dan Smith, survived as well, but he is much worse for the wear compared to Negreanu, bagging up just over 18,000 chips. Past winners Antonio Esfandiari and Joe Hachem also managed to survive the day.
Some of the unfortunate players who did not advance through the day include Andy Frankenberger, BLUFF.com WPT Ones to Watch Daniel Strelitz and Candace Collins, Liv Boeree, Matt Salsberg, former football pro Richard Seymour, Phil Laak, and Phil Hellmuth
The officials numbers are not in, but it appears this years field has around 580 entries, which far exceeds the 449 that last year drew. Once prize pool information and official counts are available, we will post them here.