Day 1A of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is in the books. A total of 1,116 players put up the $10,000 buy-in, down from 1,297 last year. At the end of the day, a familiar name on PocketFives.com was perched near the top of the chip counts: Billy Patrolman35 Kopp, who sits with the 24th largest stack at 98,550. All eyes are pointed at Eric Cloutier, a former professional hockey player who owns several sports bars in Louisiana. Also near the top of the field is David Doc Sands Sands, who holds the 28th largest stack overall out of 821 survivors at 91,150. All of the action can be found on PocketFivesLive.com, your source for WSOP coverage of online poker players.

Kopp is fresh off a win in the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl in April for $83,000. In May, he took down the Full Tilt $150 rebuy for another $69,000. He sits at 75th in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and has become one of the industry’s world-class players. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman, who is covering her second WSOP Main Event, commented on Kopp’s run to end Day 1A: “Once I heard that Billy was nearing 100,000 chips, I went over to watch him play and he was running over the table, raising every hand. The table was just rolling over and folding to him; he was clearly a force to be reckoned with. People were clearly scared to tangle with this guy and it helped him amass a pile of chips to end the night.”

Playing on Day 1A means an extended weekend until Tuesday, when the survivors from the first two starting days will reconvene in the Amazon Room for Day 2A. David Doc Sands Sands (pictured at left) told PocketFives.com that he’s not expecting any hangover from the three-day break: “I don’t think it will be much of a problem at all. The Main Event is such a grind that I actually picked Day 1A to get as much space as possible during the early stages.” Sands sits right above “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander in the standings and explained that he played near-perfect poker on Friday: “I’m excited, but it’s still very early. I’m probably more excited with my play than my stack. I made very few mistakes yesterday and, as you know, confidence is key.”

Holding the 25th largest stack is Darren darrenelias Elias (pictured at right), who holds 97,850. Elias has a bundle of experience, including a win in a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event in February for $126,000. He also final tabled another FTOPS event for a healthy $50,000. Welman recapped Elias’ run through Day 1A: “Darren doubled up early on in the day and continued to build his chip stack. Despite having to contend with Gus Hansen on his immediate left for much of the afternoon and Jeff yellowsub Williams after that, Elias kept on winning hands and picking up pots.”

Also surviving to see Day 2A was Kirk idareyouAA Banks (pictured at left), who ended with 16,675 chips, good for 723rd overall. His roller coaster of a day was capped off by losing a 40,000 chip pot with the nut flush draw before doubling on the next hand through the same opponent. In the latter pot, Banks called a pre-flop raise with 10-8 of diamonds to see a flop of Q-10-6. His opponent led out for 1,600 and Banks called. The turn fell a four, Banks’ opponent pushed, and the PocketFiver called. His foe turned up K-J for a straight draw and an eight on the river improved Banks to two pair.

After taking part in the WSOP Ante Up for Africa charity tournament on Thursday, Jason treysfull21 Mercier (pictured at right) played in Day 1A of the Main Event on Friday. The 2009 bracelet winner finished with 41,125 chips, good for 358th overall. Mercier dropped a substantial pot at the end of the night despite making the nut flush on the river. The same card gave his opponent a full house, but Mercier recovered to close out play. PocketFivers who will join him when play resumes on Tuesday, along with their approximate chip counts, include:

Billy Patrolman35 Kopp – 98,000
Darren darrenelias Elias – 97,000
David Doc Sands Sands – 91,000
Daniel amichaiKK Makowsky – 90,000
Scott stsitron Sitron – 86,000
Jeff yellowsub Williams – 77,000
Corey comandr_cool Burbick – 76,000
Scott stpauli11 Hall – 76,000
Christian da_professional Iacobellis – 67,000
Nick Grip Grippo – 67,000
Jimmy gobboboy Fricke – 57,000
Amanda Mandy B Baker – 56,000
Matt mcmatto Affleck – 55,000
Karec K-Rock2525 Terrell – 52,000
Brandon bgitty Garrity – 52,000
Keven Stamdogg Stammen – 50,000
Frank Frank1The1Tank Calo – 50,000
Michael Gags30 Gagliano – 48,000
Steve MrTimCaum O’Dwyer – 47,000
Anthony D1rtyR1v3r Nardi – 47,000
Thayer THAY3R Rasmussen – 46,000
Jordan scarface_79 Smith – 43,000
Jeff HB_HITMAN Anderson – 44,000
Jordan Octavian_C Smith – 43,000
Felipe Mojave14 Ramos – 42,000
Kevin kice32 Iacafano – 42,000
Jay SEABEAST Kinkade – 41,000
Sorel Imper1um Mizzi – 41,000
Jason treysfull21 Mercier – 41,000
Taylor Green Plastic Caby – 40,000
Phil USCPhildo Collins – 39,000
Mike Sexton – 39,000
Michael benvo123 Benvenuti – 38,000
Matt plattsburgh Vengrin – 37,000
Aditya intervention Agarwal – 36,000
Craig MrCasino Gray – 33,000
Jon sketchy1 Eaton – 27,000
Cody CalBandGreat Shedd – 25,000
Michael mossified84 Skomac – 25,000
Steve mcnallyville McNally – 23,000
John JRD312 Dolan – 22,000
Jason JasonGray Gray – 21,000
Ryan gutshtallin Welch – 21,000
Ravi govshark2 Raghaven – 20,000
Steve thorladen Weinstein – 18,000
Kyle thetruth503 Zartman – 17,000
Kirk idareyouAA Banks – 16,000
Mike SirWatts Watson – 16,000
Jon PearlJammer Turner – 13,000
Jason JP OSU Potter – 13,000
Steve stevejpa Paul-Ambrose – 7,000

Visit PocketFivesLive.com for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players. Day 1B kicks off on Saturday at Noon Pacific Time from the Rio in Las Vegas.