Donald Vogel Tops WSOP Event #56 Day 1 Leaderboard

California’s Donald Vogel ended Day 1 as chip leader of the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event #56 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

In what was a speedy opening day in the final $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament of this 43rd series at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Vogel bagged up with 145,200 chips to hold a healthy lead over second placed Daniel Johnson, of Honolulu, on 131,000.

Another large field assembled as 2,798 players registered to create a $3,777,300 prize pool, of which $661,022 will go to the winner. But just 305 players made it into Day 2, which is only eight places short of the minimum cash of $2,757, so expect some early fireworks when play resumes later today.

Konstantin Puchkov Stuck on 10 in Record Chase

Certainly, Day 1 witnessed quick eliminations as the trio of pros aiming to break the record for most WSOP cashes fell short in this tournament, with Russian Konstantin Puchkov – who is tied with holder Nikolay Evdakov on 10 – as well as Vancouver’s Terrence Chan (nine cashes) and Vegas-based Joe Tehan (nine), failing to last the day.

However, other players fared well in the Rio’s Amazon Room, including Spaniard Carlos Lopez Neira (third on 128,400), Irishman Michael Graydon (fourth on 128,000) and California’s Scott Freeman (fifth on 120,700).

Additionally, several well-known pros hold healthy stacks, including Kansas City’s Blake Cahail (10th on 109,700), Shankar Pillai (17th on 94,300), of New York State, New York’s Will ‘The Thrill’ Failla (30th on 78,300), Englishman Sam Holden (33rd on 76,000) and Florida’s Ashton Griffin (48th on 68,100).

Daniel Negreanu Makes Day 2

Canadian star Daniel Negreanu – who has had a terrible WSOP – also ended the day with above average chips in 74th on 57,200, having joined this tournament after crashing out of the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop event #55.

Also still in contention are the likes of Adam Levy (58th on 63,900), Donnacha O’Dea (67th on 60,300), Chance Kornuth (72nd on 58,700), Cherish Andrews (75th on 56,900), Kennii Nguyen (101st on 47,000), David ‘ODB’ Baker (111th on 43,700), Eric Mizrachi (125th on 40,300), Maria Ho (138th on 37,500), Jennifer ‘Jennicide’ Leigh (159th on 33,400), Peter Eastgate (210th on 24,200), Jeff Madsen (213th on 23,400), JC Tran (238th on 19,100) and Jennifer Tilly (254th on 17,000).

But, of course, many big-name pros exited earlier than they would have hoped, including Vanessa Selbst, Andrew Lichtenberger, Ana Marquez, Fabrice Soulier, Melanie Weisner, Jackie Glazier, Joe Cada, John Monnette, David Chiu, Vanessa Rousso, David ‘Doc’ Sands, Mickey Petersen, Erica Schoenberg, Freddy Deeb and Erik Cajelais.

WSOP 2012 Event #56 Day 1 Top 10

1. Donald Vogel (USA) – 145,200
2. Daniel Johnson (USA) – 131,000
3. Carlos Lopez Neira (Spain) – 128,400
4. Michael Graydon (Ireland) – 128,000
5. Scott Freeman (USA) – 120,700
6. Clement Montaron (France) – 119,200
7. Mark Maletic (USA) – 113,700
8. Michael Compolongo (USA) – 113,100
9. Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) – 111,200
10. Blake Cahail (USA) – 109,700