The Monster World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions kicked off on Friday, April 22, with 64 members of the WPT Champions Club hitting the green-felt battlefield. Following the primary 10 levels of action that concluded Day 1, WPT Amsterdam winner Farid Yachou led the surviving pack with 216,700 in chips.
For Yachou, this trip is his first to America, and he's positioned himself to make it quite a profitable one. When he won WPT Amsterdam just lower than a year ago, Yachou defeated a field of 341 entries to earn €215,000.
To help Yachou claim the chip lead moving to Day 2, he busted Marvin Rettenmaier late on Day 1. Within the final level, Rettenmaier opened preflop from the button, Yachou shoved all in from the large blind, and Rettenmaier called to place himself in peril with the 
Trailing Yachou at the leaderboard podium were Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi with 210,100 and Justin Young with 196,600.
Mizrachi's WPT fame is long and storied. He has two WPT titles — the $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic in 2005 for $1.86 million and the $10,000 Borgata Winter Poker Open in 2006 for $1.173 million — three other WPT final tables, and 6 total top 10 finishes. For Young, he only has one WPT title, and it came only a few days ago when he won the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown for $669,161.
Of the 64 WPT winners to go into the event, 31 advanced to Day 2 with the plan to minimize to the official WPT final table of six on Saturday.
Among those to go into the development but fail to advance were reigning WPT Player of the Year Mike Shariati, Taylor von Kriegenbergh, Shawn Buchanan, Scott Clements, Matt Waxman, James Calderaro, Jonathan Little, Tony Dunst, Dan Smith, David Chiu, and Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari.
Esfandiari, another two-time WPT champion within the field, busted in Level 8 with the blinds at 500/1,000/100 when he got pocket tens in against the 
One of the massive hits within the event, and a brand new twist to a WPT tournament, was the Action Clock, presented by Protection Poker. You'll read more in regards to the Action Clock by clicking here, however the gist of it's that it speeded up play, increased the action at the event, and was well received by the players.
Other notables to advance through to Day 2 were John "World" Hennigan, Mohsin Charania, Shawn Cunix, Andy Frankenberger, Keven Stammen, and Matt Salsberg.
The top eight finishes will reach the money, with a minimum payout worth $38,160. The winner will earn $381,600 and a plethora of different prizes, including a 2016 Corvette, courtesy of Monster. The winner can even receive a Hublot King Power Unico Titanium watch, an Aurae® Solid Gold MasterCard, a couple of gold Monster® 24K Headphones, a custom premium poker table from BBO Poker Tables, a seat in Tiger's Poker Night Presented by World Poker Tour, and a round of golf for you and two guests on the world-class Shadow Creek Golf Course with Matt Savage. All told, the extra prizes are estimated to be worth greater than $150,000.
Day 2 of the development will happen Saturday at 12 p.m. local time at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
*Photo courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT.
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