WPT World Championship: David Benyamine, Tom "durrr" Dwan Among Day 1B Leaders, Carlos Mortensen Off to Strong Start

UPDATE: Day 1b of the 2008 WPT World Championship is done, with David Benyamine (169,350) and Tom "durrr" Dwan (155,675) leading the way among the leaders.

Top overall is Jeff King with 211,575. Kenny Tran has 193,025 and last year's champ Carlos Mortensen is stacked at 172,075.

There were 335 runners who showed up today, pushing the total field for the 2008 championship to math math math...545. While short of last year's record of 639, it still guarantees first place a massive $3,389,140 pay day.

Only 35 were eliminated from today's field, and many big names are among the early big stacks, including Joe Tehan, whose name sounds too much like "Tehran" for our liking (143,275), the spectacularly breasted J.C. Tran (at right looking extra sultry on a bed of feathers grrrrrrrr, 138,350), Marcel Luske (117,225), Gus Hansen (110,325), and Daniel Negreanu (89,200).

Get full official chip counts from the WPT here.

Comments

[BJ Nemeth]

The chip counts you posted were the unofficial numbers from late in the day, and *not* the official counts. The official counts weren't compiled and released until nearly midnight. FYI, the link you posted for the chip counts only leads to a partial list (top 10 and notables). The comprehensive list of all 421 chip counts can be found in the live updates, available here:

http://liveupdates.worldpokertour.com/tournament/?x=updatesnews

David Benyamine actually finished the day in 7th place (169,350), with Tom "Durrrr" Dwan not far behind (155,675). Here are the top five heading into Day 2:

1. Jeff King - 211,575
2. Paul Chauderson - 200,900
3. Kenny Tran - 193,025
4. Robert Mizrachi - 173,375
5. Carlos Mortensen - 172,075

Curiously, there were seven players who finished Day 1b with more chips than Day 1a chipleader Billy Baxter (who has 167,150). Carlos Mortensen is off to a strong start in his defense of the WPT World Championship, but there are still six more days to go.