Photo Recap: Day 1 of WPT Hollywood Poker Open

By BJ Nemeth

There were 92 players who entered the WPT Hollywood Poker Open on Day 1, and after six levels of play there were 57 survivors. Registration remains open until the start of Day 2 (1:00 pm ET on Sunday), so there is still a chance to cross the 100-player mark.

Here are the top five players on the leaderboard:

1. Ali Eslami – 147,000
2. Richard Pflum – 141,000
3. Thomas Marchese – 92,275
4. Steve Russell – 92,050
5. Matthew Sterling – 90,000

And now, a photographic look back at Day 1 of the WPT Hollywood Poker Open:

The tournament took place on the lower level of the Hollywood Casino, which is, technically, a riverboat. That placed the players below the water line, where cellphone reception was practically non-existent, as you might surmise by the reaction from Vivek Rajkumar. Rajkumar is fresh off back-to-back WPT final tables at the L.A. Poker Classic and the Bay 101 Shooting Star, but his streak ends at two because he was eliminated on Day 1.

WPT Commentator Mike Sexton (center) welcomes the players to the event and announces "Shuffle up and deal." After the first break, Sexton would join the field to play in this event, hoping to improve on his sixth-place finish a few weeks ago at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star.

From left to right: Royal Flush Girls Michelle Banzer and Jennifer Haley, Tournament Director Kevin Dawn, Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Royal Flush Girls Katrina Topacio and Melanie Iglesias.

Dwyte Pilgrim (right) was having fun early as he shared a table with Chris Bell, who final tabled this event last year. Royal Flush Girl Melanie Iglesias looks on.

Joseph Cheong eliminated two players in the first level, including Randal Flowers, catapulting himself to the top of the leaderboard with more than 100,000 in chips, while most of the field was still near their starting stacks of 30,000. Cheong’s lead was so great, he had more chips in Level 1 than the tournament chipleader had at the start of Level 5.

Ali Eslami (center left) watches as Chris Bell (center right) moves all in on the river with the board showing [10h3d3sQc2c] against the player on the button. Bell’s opponent eventually folded, and Bell flashed [10c10s] for a flopped full house as he collected a big pot. Bell would finish the day 14th in chips with 74,800.

While defending champion Carlos Mortensen was a no-show, Mohsin Charania did a little Mortensen-esque chip stacking in the early levels. Unfortunately, Charania couldn’t channel Mortensen’s winning ways in Indiana, and he was eliminated in the middle of the day.

The Masters golf tournament was being shown on the big-screen TVs, and a lot of the players kept close tabs on the action, including (left to right) Christian Harder, Mike Sexton, and Shannon Shorr.

ClubWPT.com qualifier Andy Whetstone smiles after pulling in a nice pot. Whetstone kept pace with the top pros on Day 1, finishing 11th in chips with 80,400.

Allen Kessler (right) had won the previous hand with pocket kings to eliminate Ravi Raghavan, who had pocket queens. The pessimistic Kessler said there was no way he could win two pots in a row, but he raised under the gun, and Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland (left) called from the big blind. Kessler bet the flop, both players checked the turn, and McClelland bet the river on a board of [KsJh10c2h5h]. Kessler said, "I can’t fold aces," and sure enough, he called with [AcAd]. But McClelland turned over [KdJd] to win the pot with two pair.

After the hand, Kessler said, "I knew I couldn’t win two hands in a row." McClelland laughed and said, "I know. That’s why I called."

Amanda Musumeci was one of two women in the field, finishing the day with a slightly-below-average stack of 42,075. The other woman in the field was Jerri Thomas, one of only 13 women who have won WSOP bracelets in open events. Thomas also survived the day, but with just 5,650 in chips, she will start Day 2 in 57th place with 57 players remaining.

Joseph Cheong got off to one of the fastest starts we’ve seen in recent WPT memory. Unfortunately, Cheong couldn’t carry that momentum to Day 2, as he was eliminated about an hour before the end of the day.

The Day 1 chipleader is Ali Eslami, who was also named the RISE Player of the Day. Eslami will begin Day 2 with 147,000, slightly ahead of Richard Pflum’s 141,000. Nobody else finished the day with more than 100,000 in chips. If Joseph Cheong could have somehow frozen his chip stack during Level 1, he would have finished the day third in chips.

Day 2 begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm ET. Return to WPT.com for continuing live coverage, including hand updates, frequent chip counts,, and another episode of the Jess & BJ Show.