WSOP: $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Day 1 Complete

Daniel Negreanu had one of the best Day 1 performances of his 2010 WSOP today.

Day 1 of the World Series of Poker’s first-ever $25,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em tournament is in the books, and action poker was the theme of the day. The field dropped 113 of its 191 starters, leaving just 60 more players to be eliminated before the money bubble pops and guaranteed $58,699. Philipp Gruissem, an online poker player from Germany, ended the day as the chip leader with 548,100. He has just two previous live tournament cashes on his resume, but he’s not a total unknown on the internet. He has performed well in a number of Sunday tournaments and special events online over the last two years en route to career winnings of $950,016.

Several bigger storylines of this WSOP played out on a smaller scale in the first day of this new high-dollar event. Like the British invasion angle? Try former professional soccer player Sam Trickett, who already has a second-place finish in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event to his credit this summer. He finished third in chips to end the day as this tournament’s top representative from the United Kingdom.

Been following the WSOP Player of the Year race closely? John Juanda and Frank Kassela, who were tied at the top of the leaderboard going into this event, finished 7-8 at the end of Day 1. Juanda held just four and a half big blinds more than Kassela, and both return with very deep stacks tomorrow, with whoever finishes better in this tournament most likely gaining important ground on the other for Player of the Year.

And if you’re a fan of Daniel Negreanu you already know that he’s had something of an off-year at the WSOP, at least by his standards: he has only cashed three times. One of those was a final table appearance in the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball World Championship, but eighth place paid just $26,004. In all his earnings this summer amount to $54,96. But if Negreanu stays on the course he set for himself on Day 1 of this tournament, where he finished sixth in chips, then he’ll be in fine shape to make his second final table of the Series for significantly more money than the last one.

All those storylines will continue to play out later today. And if past experience is any guide, the presence of other top poker pros like Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Phil Galfond and Erick Lindgren further back in the field means that new WSOP storylines could emerge faster than you can flip a coin. The second of four days of play begins this afternoon at 2:30 p.m., and you can watch streaming action directly from the Rio starting at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN3.com.