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The first day of play in the high-dollar $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament commemorating the 40th running of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) panned out on Thursday, with a bevy of PocketFivers remaining in contention. Holding the third largest chip stack entering Friday’s action is Bodog pro Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo (pictured at right), who comes with an arsenal of 738,000 chips. Claiming the fourth largest stack overall is another PocketFiver, Lex RasZi Veldhuis, who hails from the Netherlands and has 646,500. A total of 89 players remain, with the top 27 finishing in the money. PocketFivesLive.com, which provides WSOP coverage of online poker players, is on the scene at the Rio following every turn of the card.

Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo will headline Table 58 inside the massive Amazon Room on Friday. His tablemates will include Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, WSOP bracelet winner and PocketFiver Steve MrSmokey1 Billirakis, and Noah fouruhaters Schwartz. Bonomo doubled his stack during the second level of play on Thursday holding pocket deuces and hitting a set on the flop. Per Ummer doubled Bonomo up in the hand and there was no looking back for the young gun of poker. He held about 500,000 entering the dinner break and finished with a stack of 738,000. Bonomo is fresh off a win in the Main Event of the WSOP Circuit stop at Caesars Las Vegas for $227,000. He barreled through the 187 player event and defeated Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi heads-up.

PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Brett Collson, who has been on the scene in Las Vegas covering the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event, commented on Bonomo’s run through Day 1: “Justin shot right of the gate Thursday and never looked back. Ask any top pro and they'll tell you Bonomo is one of the most feared young players on the circuit. His well-rounded game will create problems for players at even the highest skill level, especially given his enormous pile of chips heading into Day 2.”

Lex RasZi Veldhuis holds the fourth largest stack entering Day 2 of the event, which boasts the largest non-Main Event WSOP prize pool in history at $7.7 million. The previous mark was the $7.1 million purse in the $50,000 buy-in HORSE Championship in 2007. Veldhuis was among the chip leaders for most of the day, vying for the top spot with 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker and Michael DiMichele. He solidified his number four slot on the leader board after busting fellow PocketFiver Luke IWEARGOGGLES Staudenmaier late in the day. Veldhuis’ poker skills will be put to the test on Friday, as he’ll be seated with Phil Ivey, Sorel Imper1um Mizzi, David Bakes Baker, Adam a_junglen Junglen (pictured at right), DiMichele, and Nam Le. Talk about a tough draw.

Speaking of Sorel Imper1um Mizzi (pictured at left), the Betfair pro owns the 14th largest chip stack entering Day 2 with 431,000. The Canadian took a sizable chunk of new Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso’s stack late in the day. After a flop of 5-4-4, Mizzi fired out a bet of 8,000 and Rousso flat called. The action went check-check after the turn came a three, but another three on the river prompted a bet of 24,500 from Mizzi. Rousso called and Mizzi flipped up pocket nines. Rousso promptly mucked, boosting Mizzi to nearly 400,000 chips.

Collson commented, “Rousso said it best to Mizzi as Day 1 concluded: ‘You're impossible to play against because I can never put you on a hand.’ Mizzi's erratic play is puzzling for any opposing player, which is why you'll usually find him exiting a tournament early or sitting near the top of the leader board. He has enough deep-stack experience to make some serious noise in this event.”

Meanwhile, the action in the $500 buy-in Casino Employees Event wrapped up on Thursday, with PocketFiver Paul paulpete Peterson (pictured at right) taking second for $51,000. In the end, the tournament came down to a race, with Peterson’s A-Q coming up short against Andrew Cohen’s pocket sixes. It was Peterson’s first WSOP cash. PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Jessica Welman noted, “Peterson came into the final table as one of the shortest stacks, but managed to double up at several critical points to stay in the running for the first bracelet of the Series. Paul was in it to win it and played some great short-handed poker to put him in the best position possible.”

Here is a partial list of PocketFivers remaining in Event #2 of the 2009 WSOP, which will award $1.9 million to its winner:

3. Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo – 738,000
4. Lex RasZi Veldhuis – 646,000
11. David Bakes Baker – 446,000
14. Sorel Imper1um Mizzi – 431,000
18. Daniel ansky451 Stern – 386,000
22. Alex alexjacob Jacob – 357,000
25. Steve MrSmokey1 Billirakis – 353,000
26. Alec traheho Torelli – 345,500
29. Jason treysfull21 Mercier – 331,000
39. Andrew good2cu Robl – 260,500
40. Steve thorladen Weinstein – 246,500
49. Corwin mig.com Mackey – 205,500
59. Noah fouruhaters Schwartz – 168,000
65. Adam a_junglen Junglen – 144,000
68. Chad M8kingmoves Batista – 140,000
69. Brian tsarrast Rast – 139,000
73. Scott gunning4u Seiver – 124,500
81. Mike SirWatts Watson – 92,500
82. Amit amak316 Makhija – 88,500
87. Chris moorman1 Moorman – 57,500

The top ten in the field are as follows:

1. Bruno Fitoussi - 812,500
2. Chris Moneymaker - 805,000
3. Justin Bonomo - 738,000
4. Alexander Veldhuis - 646,500
5. Kyle Wilson - 611,500
6. Brian Townsend - 609,000
7. Michael DeMichele - 519,500
8. Emil Patel - 494,500
9. Alan Sass - 491,000
10. Andrew Black - 449,500

Visit PocketFivesLive.com for WSOP coverage of online poker players throughout the entire schedule of 57 bracelet events.