The world's top poker professionals came to play at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals (WPF) Main Event, making up a large portion of the day-one survivors.
Normally, World Poker Tour events are loaded with hopeful amateurs looking to make a name for themselves with a big tournament win, but at the popular Foxwoods event, the professionals are making sure the amateurs feel the pressure.
Daryn Firicano, of Woburn Mass., is the runaway chip leader after day one, amassing $340,000 in tokens at days end. Firicano, who made a No-Limit Hold'em final table this summer at the World Series of Poker, is looking for his first major tournament victory.
However, if he wants to capture his first crown, he'll have to make his way through a field that includes Hoyt Corkins, Kathy Liebert, Tuan Le, Jeff Madsen, John "Miami" Cernuto, Barry Greenstein, Thithi "Mimi" Tran, Daniel Negreanu, Cliff "Johnnybax" Josephy, and Alex Jacob.
Corkins, already a WPT champion, is second in chips with $230,000 and playing the best poker of his life. Always a tough competitor in Foxwoods events, Corkins is the early favorite to make another WPT final table.
Liebert, perhaps the best female-tournament player alive, is sitting pretty with a hefty stack of $125,000 chips. A female has never won a regular season WPT event, but Liebert has come close several times and is always a threat.
Young guns Tuan Le, Jeff Madsen and Alex Jacob are lurking in the background. Le is a WPT phenom and currently leads the all-time money list. Madsen, the wonder boy of the WSOP, is having his best tournament since he took the poker world by storm this summer. Jacob, who won the U.S Poker Championship this fall and came in second at the last Foxwoods WPT event, it severely short-stacked, but not yet out.
Play continues Monday at noon with 150 players remaining. The final is scheduled to begin Thursday at 2 p.m.
