January 22 2012, Paul Oresteen

Two starting flights and over 14 hours of action on Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at the Choctaw Casino and Resort saw nearly 1,000 players take to the felt. Day 1a drew 647 players and Day 1b pulled in 300 entrants for a total of 947 players. Just 318 players survived the first flight and 180 players moved on from the evening flight. Standing above them all is Chris Tiller with 167,500.

Tiller has nearly double the chips of his closest competitor. Ray Jennings (90,000) and Rob Salaburu (87,000) lead the chase pack behind Tiller. Also moving on to Day 2 are James Van Alstyne, Drazen Ilich, Raja Kattamuri, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Layne Flack, Tommy Vedes, Chad Brown, T.J. Cloutier, Tom McEvoy, Roland Israel, Scotty Nguyen and Dennis Phillips.

Not all notables were able to survive the day. Those finding the rail early include Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson and Ylon Schwartz.

Raja Kattamuri has all but punched his ticket to the National Championship by claiming the title of Casino Champion. He’s been on the biggest heater Choctaw may have seen. Through nine events Kattamuri won two gold rings, Event #3: $555 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #8: $555 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em, and turned in two other final table appearances – a second place finish in Event #6: $345 Six Max No-Limit Hold’em and a sixth place finish in Event #9: $345 Pot-Limit Omaha.

Huy Nguyen, last year’s Main Event Champion, got a late start in the evening flight due to the fact he was busy winning his third WSOPC gold ring. He shipped Event #10: $345 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo, grabbed a bite to eat and went right back to the felt to defend his title.

Day 2 will return nearly 500 players with play scheduled for 14 levels or a final table – whichever comes first. Cards will be in the air promptly at 1200 CST (1800 GMT) and you can follow all the WSOPC action live on Pokernews.com.

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