On Friday, the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicked off from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. On tap were the $500 Casino Employees Event and the $50,000 Player’s Championship. The latter was an Eight Game mix and featured a starting field of 116 players. A total of 105 survived the day, including several members of the online poker community, which turned out en masse to face off against the top names the game has to offer.

Holding down the fort at seventh in chips after Day 1 of the five-day $50,000 Player’s Championship is Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis (pictured at left). A WSOP bracelet and Circuit gold ring winner, Billirakis owns a stack of 251,900 after five levels of play. The entire field is trailing Erik Sagstrom‘s mountain of 329,100. Billirakis’ bracelet came in 2007 in a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event for over $500,000. He earned his ring in 2008 in the $5,150 Hammond Circuit Championship.
One of the final eliminations of the day belonged to Justin ZeeJustinBonomo, who sent Greg “FBT” Mueller to the rails. In a hand with fellow online poker player Scott dorinvandy Dorin (pictured at right), Bonomo flipped up 9-7-6-5-3 during Triple Draw, Dorin tossed his cards into the muck, and Mueller hit the rails. Bonomo has the fifth largest stack entering Day 2 at 257,300, while Dorin bagged up 91,000, the 89th largest tally in the room.

Also making waves on Friday during Day 1 action was Dan djk123Kelly (pictured at left), who doubled up early on at the expense of Dan Shak. During Pot Limit Omaha, Kelly’s chips found the middle on a flop of 9c-8s-10s holding Ah-Kc-Qs-Js for a straight, while Shak showed 9h-9d-3c-8c for trip nines. The deuce of clubs came on the turn and the six of spades hit on the river, improving Kelly to a flush and crippling Shak, who was eliminated shortly thereafter. Kelly sits at 203,800 chips after Day 1, the 24th largest stack in the room.

Meanwhile, PocketFivers were rallying around Kelly in a thread in Poker Discussion. One poster, Sawb0, predicted that Kelly would perform quite well in this year’s WSOP: “I was telling people I think DJK will have a better Rookie year in the WSOP than Annette. Hopefully it'll hold.” Also weighing in was Crazyhorse76, who critiqued Shak’s play: “Don't care how much $ you have, that might be the worst-played hand in the history of the WSOP.”

The winner will pocket a hefty $1.5 million. Play wrapped up in Level 5, when the blinds were as follows:

2-7 Triple Draw, Hold'em, Omaha 8/b: Blinds 900-1,800, Betting Limits 1,800-3,600
Razz, Stud, Stud 8/b: Ante 400, Bring-in 500, Completion 1,800, Betting Limits 1,800-3,600
No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha: Blinds 400-900, Ante 200

Here’s a look at chip counts of several members of the online poker community remaining in the $50,000 Player’s Championship:

5. Justin ZeeJustinBonomo – 257,300
7. Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis – 251,900
10. Barry barryg1Greenstein – 240,100
15. David BakesBaker – 221,900
24. Dan djk123Kelly – 203,800
32. Brian Stinger885Hastings – 190,800
67. Jason treysfull21Mercier – 141,500
73. Scott BigRiskkyClements – 128,200
77. Justin Boosted J Smith – 115,500
89. Scott dorinvandyDorin – 91,000
92. Pat TorontoToroPezzin – 89,100
97. Marco CrazyMarcoJohnson – 76,900
99. Mike SirWattsWatson – 71,300
102. Ashton lwrunner103Griffin – 52,500

The top 10 stacks overall are:

1. Erik Sagstrom – 329,100
2. David Oppenheim – 313,800
3. Doyle Brunson – 269,200
4. Edwin Ting – 258,900
5. Justin ZeeJustinBonomo – 257,300
6. Joseph Serock – 253,900
7. Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis – 251,900
8. John Cernuto – 251,400
9. Vladimir Schmelev – 243,700
10. Barry barryg1Greenstein – 240,100

In the Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em event, a total of 721 players entered. First place will take home $71,000 and, after Day 1, Kent Washington holds a commanding chip lead over the competition at 168,300 chips. Second place belongs to Jonathan Kotula, who will come armed to Day 2 with a stack of 108,700, or 60,000 fewer chips than Washington.

Saturday will mark one of the busiest days during the 2010 WSOP, as the first of six open $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em events (#3) begins. The action kicks off at Noon PT with the first of two starting days and WSOP officials are expecting well over 6,000 players to enter. The standing record for the largest non-Main Event field is 6,012, set last year during the Stimulus Special.

Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players.