DAY 1 RECAP

Day 1 of the Foxwoods Poker Classic was a tough day for the pros as many of them were sent to the rail. Among the big names that exited in day one were: Barry Greenstein, Robert Varkonyi, Daniel Negreanu, Kathy Liebert, Mimi Tran, Carlos Mortensen, Chris Bigler, Evelyn Ng, Joe Sebok, David Pham, David Singer, and Gavin Smith.

Tournament play started a little after 11:00am (EST) with 431 players each starting with 20,000 in chips. Blinds started at 25-50 and each level last 75 minutes, so there were plenty of opportunities to play poker. The play was tight and conservative early on. Some big names took advantage of the conservative nature of the field by playing aggressively to gain chips.

Maryland native Bernard Lee won an early pot against Hoyt Corkins when his pocket Aces held up. Later on, the New England hero was knocked out of the tournament, when his pocket Kings drowned to a flush made on the river.

Gavin Smith, who currently leads in the WPT player of the year standing, suffered perhaps the worst beat of the tournament thus far. Here is how the hand played out:

Smith called a small pre-flop against a late position player. The flop came [5d7d6c]. Gavin had [7h7s] and flopped top set. Player had [Ad6d] and flopped second pair with the nut flush draw. The turn [6s] brought the action card. Smith now had 7