Mini-Photo Blog From Day 1

Here are a few of the photo highlights from Day 1:

With Bellagio’s Fontana Lounge filled to capacity, the poker room was used to handle the overflow, leaving only a handful of tables available for cash games. This is the view from the rail outside the poker room, and the view is improved with Erica Schoenberg facing the rail. Schoenberg survived Day 1 and is still alive here on Day 2 with 38,000 in chips.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi plays in his first WPT event after his fifth-place finish in the WSOP’s November Nine. Until this year, Mizrachi’s big wins were both on the World Poker Tour — he won his first WPT title at Commerce in 2005, and followed that up with another WPT title at Borgata in 2006. Mizrachi was short at one point, but finished strong to end Day 1 with 75,900.

Kara Scott smiles as she pulls in a pot after doubling up with pocket aces to stay alive as a short stack. Unfortunately, Scott was eliminated in the last level of play yesterday.