WPT LAPC: Singer, Esfandiari, and Wroblewski (a Woman), Day 1 Chip Leaders, Vinnie Vinh + Jerry Yang Out...Will We Ever Hear from Them Again?

Day 1 of the 2008 WPT LAPC ended with 450 of the original 665 players remaining. Hats off to the WPT for keeping all numbers divisible by "5" this year. As faithful readers of this site know, we hate math, so the more that numbers can be dumbed-down for us the better.

Some big names top the leaderboard. The unofficial* chip count leader at the end of Day 1 is David Singer, stacked at 137,400. He's followed by Antonio Esfandiari, who is stepping up after being named the new face of the WPT. Antonio brings 119,000 to Day 2 play. At third overall is Anna Wroblewski, a woman, with 116,550.

So many big names remain it would take a much more boring site that actually cares about listing them all to list them all, but some highlights include: Justin Bonomo (77,125), Action Dan Harrington (72,500), Montel Williams (59,000), David Williams (57,000), Phil Hellmuth (49,575), Johnny Chan (44,925), Phil Ivey (44,025), Vanessa Rousso who went to Duke (44,000), the insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes (40,300), star of Meerkat Manor Jeff Madsen (39,000), Todd Brunson (38,000), Lakers owner Jerry H. Buss (37,700), Survivor China's Jean-Robert Bellande (34,000), Mike Sexton (33,000), 2007 NBC Heads-Up champ Paul Wasicka (31,875), and that should be more than enough for now.

Not making it to Day 2 include Vinnie Vinh, Vinnie Vinh's chair, Jerry Yang (apparently he wasn't praying hard enough this time), and Obama '08 supporter Daniel Negreanu. Question, would Daniel support celeb favorite Bam Obama if he knew the Presidential hopeful was not only swiping words from Deval Patrick, but was also plagiarizing Rocky Balboa?

And finally, not making an appearance at this year's LAPC is Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth, as Shannon Elizabeth is busy getting in super-hot shape for Dancing with the Stars.

Get full chip counts and reporting from the fantastic WPT website.

* Official.