Published on 05/29/2009

The 2009 World Series of Poker Event #2 ($40,000 No Limit Hold’em) has officially kicked off yesterday at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, registering a total of 201 players and amassing a $7.72 million prize pool. The high stakes event is the first open tournament at the 40th WSOP and the first televised event covered for future broadcast on ESPN.

The 2009 World Series of Poker Event #2 ($40,000 No Limit Hold’em) has officially kicked off yesterday at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, registering a total of 201 players and amassing a $7.72 million prize pool. The high stakes event is the first open tournament at the 40^th WSOP and the first televised event covered for future broadcast on ESPN.

The 4 day event attracted some of the best and most successful poker players in the world, including the online poker pro, Tom “Durr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Antonio Esfandiari, Justin Bonomo, Dario Minieri, Tony G, Doyle Brunson and 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate.

A total of 112 players hit the rail on Day 1, including Tom “durrr” Dwan, Peter Eastgate, David Benyamine, Johnny Chan, 2009 WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko, 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren, 2008 bracelet winners Dario Minieri and Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, Kathy Liebert, Andy Bloch, John Juanda, Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. Even when some of the biggest names in the professional poker circuit couldn’t survive Day 1, several heavy weight players still alive for Day 2, including Doyle Brunson, Tony G, Ted Forrest, Sorel Mizzi, David Benefield, Chris Moneymaker, 2009 Heads-Up Champion Huck Seed, Greg “The Fossil” Raymer, and Mike Matusow

Day 1 closed with France’s Bruno Fitoussi leading the chip count with 812,500 in chips, followed by 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker with 805,000 in chips and Justin Bonomo with 738,000 in chips.

The 2009 WSOP Event #2 will resume today at 2:00 pm at the Amazon Poker Room and continue for the next two days. The first place finisher in this event will get a $1.9 million prize, while the runner-up will receive $1.17 million. The top 27 finishers in this tournament will all receive at least $71,858.

Top 10 chip counts after Day 1:

Bruno Fituossi - 812,500
Chris Moneymaker - 805,500
Justin Bonomo - 738,000
Alexander Veldhuis - 646,500
Kyle “krisqueen” Wilson - 611,500
Brian Townsend - 609,000
Michael DeMichele - 519,500
Emil “whitelime” Patel - 494,500