Vanessa Selbst Leads Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Europe might be the place to be for tournament action right now, but American Vanessa Selbst has stayed home to end Day 1 of the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic as chip leader on 165,800.

The Brooklyn player – who picked up $227,933 for winning the 2008 World series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event – heads the 283 survivors from 365 starters for the $10,000 buy-in event at The Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The 27-year-old has almost 10,000 chips more than second-placed John Smith, who sits on 156,075, while the top five is completed by Jean Max Gaspard (131,925), Darren Elias (130,000) and England’s John Bennett (130,000) as the only non-North American in the top 10.

Selbst showed great aggression to chip up throughout the opening day, but was also favoured with more than a little luck.

The Yale University graduate also secured a huge pot against Adam Geyer to zoom up the standings when her K-K beat his Q-8 from an eight-high board, while she then beat out Victor Ramdin’s set with a higher set of her own.

Among the other big-name pros to make Day 2 of the event are McLean Karr (24th on 90,875 chips), Erik Seidel (21st on 93,100), Antonio Esfandiari (18th on 97,350), Alec Torelli (16th on 100,500) and Allen Kessler (10th on 108,475).

Other well known faces failed to make it out of Day 1 and included Mike Matusow, Zach Clark, Justin Young, Sorel Mizzi and Sam Stein, while Jennifer Tilly is way down in on 18,400.

Additionally, Matt Glantz (91,000), David Pham (87,700), Carlos Mortensen (84,150), Barry Shulman (78,000), Phil Collins (77,825), Brandon Cantu (77,000), Soi Nguyen (76,075), Allen Bari (70,000), Jimmy Tran (60,350) and Kathy Liebert (52,200) have made it to the second day above the average chip stack of 51,590.

Some if the famous players below that mark include Matt Affleck (51,050), Dwyte Pilgrim (44,800), Daniel Negreanu (42,875), Eric Baldwin (42,600), Tom Marchese (41,325), Annette Obrestad (40,850), Eric Froehlich (37,550), Barry Greenstein (27,850), Jeff Shulman (21,600), Jeff Madsen (14,175), Bryan Devonshire (13,125) and last placed Maria Ho (7,875).

Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Day 1 Top 10

1. Vanessa Selbst (USA) – 165,800

2. John Smith (USA) – 156,075

3. Jean Max Gaspard (USA) – 131,925

4. Darren Elias (USA) – 130,000

5. John Bennett (UK) – 130,000

6. Keith Ferrera (USA) – 127,825

7. Mike Meskin (USA) – 119,775

8. Madison Bergeron (Canada) – 118,700

9. Robert Nahmani (USA) – 112,400

10. Allen Kessler (USA) – 108,475