WSOP 2011: John Cernuto On Top After Day One of $2,500 6-Handed 10-Game Mix Event

Las Vegas-based John Cernuto tops the leaderboard on 52,700 chips after day one of the inaugural $2,500 six-handed 10-game mix event, although Texan David Benefield is not far behind on 51,700.

A remarkable 431 players entered to make this the world’s biggest 10-game tournament with a prize pool of $980,525, of which $254,955 will go to the winner.

However, the field was cut to 162 after the first 10 levels of an event that is made up of no-limit hold’em, seven-card razz, limit hold’em, Badugi (limit), seven-card stud, 2-7 draw lowball (no-limit), Omaha hi-low split-8 or better, pot-limit Omaha, 2-7 triple draw lowball (limit), and seven-card stud hi-low split-8 or better.

World champions John Juanda, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem are still in for tonight, while another champ, Scotty Nguyen, crashed out early – as did John Monnette, who won his first WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 eight-game mix event for $278,144 about fifteen hours before this event got underway.

Top 10 chip leaders after day one of the WSOP 2011 $2,500 Six-Handed 10-Game Mix event:

1. John Cernuto (USA) – 52,700

2. David Benefield (USA) – 51,700

3. Rob Hollink (Netherlands) – 49,100

4. Brandon Adams (USA) – 47,325

5. Dan Heimiller (USA) – 46,875

6. Alessandro Ponzio (USA) – 44,625

7. Shaun Deeb (USA) – 42,450

8. Sam Silverman (USA) – 41,875

9. Justin Gardenhire (USA) – 41,450

10. Owais Ahmed (USA) – 41,250