World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions Day 1 update

As if the Tournament of Champions wasn’t going to bring enough drama and terrific play, there was some very interesting table draws on Day 1 of the tournament, a lot of table talk, as well as a very inebriated -but pleasant-Scotty Nguyen.

Storyline #1: Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow start at the same table. Well we’ve seen this act before, and this time around the language was colorful enough that it brought a warning from tournament officials. These two have a long history of needling each other -mostly Matusow giving Hellmuth grief-which often turns ugly as the day wears on.

Storyline #2: Annie Duke vs. Daniel Negreanu. Not only are Annie and Daniel at the same table, but they are sitting right next to each other! There hasn’t been any chatter between the two players, who have a long, long, history of antagonizing each other that has at times become a downright hatred. It’s obvious by body language -and the growing gap between the two chairs-that the two are not on any type of speaking terms. Honestly, Annie looks like my 89 year-old grandmother at a Metallica concert, and couldn’t look more uncomfortable sitting between Daniel and a highly intoxicated Scotty Nguyen.

Storyline #3: Scotty Nguyen needs a cocktail BABY! Scotty decided to show up for the Tournament of Champions already 6 or 7 sheets to the wind, and this was not lost on the table. Before the first hand of poker was dealt Antonio Esfandiari offered Scotty even money if he could spell Scotty. Hopefully Scotty’s drinking doesn’t turn into a repeat performance of the $50k HORSE Championship from two years ago.

Ok, now on to the action. Day 1 of the TOC was just a 4-hour session but five players did manage to hit the rail in that time period: John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Greg Raymer, Barry Shulman and Sam Farha.

The big winners on Day 1 include the immortal participants in the 1988 WSOP Main Event final hand Erik Seidel with 72,075 chips and Johnny Chan with 71,325 chips. Just slightly behind is Mike Matusow with 70,575 chips. The player with the best results at the featured table on Day 1 was Joe Hachem who ended the day at 55,650.

The complete chip counts for the remaining players are: