The $10k buy-in World Poker Tour main event of the L.A. Poker Classic got underway today at Commerce Casino. The final number of entrants was 665 – less than last year but impressive nonetheless. First prize will be over $1.6 million.
Walking around the tournament tables at the beginning of the day, it was obvious that it was a stacked field with pros everywhere – Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Freddy Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, David Benyamine, Tom Schneider, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Gavin Griffin, Bill Edler, John Juanda… etc. Also in the field were the WPT\’s own Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, both of whom are obviously now (WPT change of contract terms?) allowed to play. And the celebrity quotient was filled by Montel Williams and Rick Salomon, if the latter is considered a celeb by anyone other than the tabloids.
Side note: Daniel Negreanu was sporting an Obama \’08 shirt. That Barack guy is all the rage these days, eh?
Official live updates reveal that David Singer led the pack at the end of Day 1.
PokerListings and PokerPages are also in the media hizzouse (excuse the lame attempt at hipness – it\’s late) providing updates as allowed.