They are down to the six-handed final table at the 2017 World Poker Tour (WPT) Maryland Live! Main Event in Hanover after 23 players were eliminated on Day 3. Day 2 chip leader Grigoriy Shvarts is no longer on top, but with 2.490 million chips, he is still in contention in fourth place. It is Tom Reynolds with 4.395 million chips who leads as he aims for his first WPT title.

Reynolds got there thanks to a huge double-up during Level 26. Randal Heeb raised to 110,000 pre-flop and after using one of his time extension chips, Reynolds moved all-in for 1.575 million chips. Everyone folded to Heeb, who made the call with pocket Jacks. Unfortunately for Heeb, Reynolds had pocket Kings and when nothing greater than a Nine showed up on the board, Reynolds had doubled to 3.250 million to take over the chip lead. Heeb looks no worse for the wear, as he is currently second in chips at the final table.

The big story of the final table, though, is arguably the presence of Art Papazyan. Only last month, Papazyan cashed for the very first time on the World Poker Tour and what a cash it was, as he won the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event. Thanks to this deep run, he is atop the WPT Player of the Year race.

Now, I will admit that I never really though poker players cared about these Player of the Year contests. I figured they just wanted to win poker tournaments and make money and if doing so earned them an extra award, then great! But Papazyan debunked my theory, telling WPT.com early in the tournament, “The WPT Player of the Year is one of the main reasons why I’m here.”

Though he just made his first WPT cash, Papazyan isn’t some poker noob. He just focuses on cash games, playing in Southern California card rooms.

When asked about his thoughts on tournaments, Papazyan told WPT.com, “They’re fun, they’re really enjoyable. Especially when you make it deep [writer’s note: well, yeah]. I feel like these tournaments with the longer levels, 60 and 90 minutes, if you’re a cash game player, you can use your post-flop skills to really have an edge.”

Clearly, anyone at the final table has a chance to take down the title and with 2.920 million chips, Papazyan is in pretty decent shape. But he likes his chances even more if the poker gods keep smiling on him, telling WPT.com that he has been on a “pretty sick heater.”

We’ll see what happens. It is poker, after all.

2017 World Poker Tour Maryland Live! Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts

1. Tom Reynolds – 4,395,000
2. Randal Heeb – 3,970,000
3. Art Papazyan – 2,920,000
4. Grigoriy Shvarts – 2,490,000
5. Timothy Chang – 2,010,000
6. Zachary Donovan – 1,195,000

The post 2017 WPT Maryland Live! Main Event Day 3: Tom Reynolds Leads Final Table, Art Papazyan Looking for Second WPT Title in a Month appeared first on Poker News Daily.

Doing something that only seven men had done before him, Art Papazyan was able to vanquish a tough final table to emerge with his second World Poker Tour championship of the year in winning the WPT Maryland Live! Main Event.

Papazyan was a part of a tight five-man pack at the top of the leaderboard to start the final table on Wednesday. Leading the way was Tom Reynolds and his 4.395 million chips, closely marked by Randal Heeb and his 3.97 million stack. There was a bit of a drop to a three-man scrum of Papazyan (2.92 million), Grigoriy Shvarts (2.49 million) and Timothy Chang (2.01 million), with all three a double-up from becoming a force in the tournament. Only Day 1A chip leader Zachary Donovan (1.195 million) could have been considered a “long shot,” but he still had 24 big blinds to play with as the tournament began its drive to conclusion.

Donovan knew he would have to be aggressive from the start to stay viable in the tournament and he was just that, shoving all-in on Hands 8 and 9 to win pots without showing and make increases in his stack. It also allowed him to move up the ladder as, on Hand 15, Reynolds and Chang knocked heads in what was a bad beat for Chang. Getting his chips to the center with pocket Jacks against Reynolds’ pocket nines, Chang was in prime position for a double up on a 7-5-4-7 flop and turn, but a river nine cruelly stole the hand from him and gave it to Reynolds. The beat sent Chang to the rail in sixth place for a consolation prize of $76,620.

Those chips added to Reynolds’ lead, but his pursuers weren’t letting up on him. Only three hands after Chang’s departure, Reynolds and Papazyan went to battle on a J-9-2-8-5 board with over 1.3 million chips in the pot. Reynolds fired out a 325,000 bet on the river, but Papazyan responded with an all-in move that Reynolds wasn’t ready for. After some thought, Reynolds commented, “Good bet,” flashed an A-Q to Papazyan, and folded to give Papazyan the nearly two million chip pot.

It wasn’t all sunshine for Papazyan, however. After getting the chip lead, he would double up Heeb on Hand 53 when Heeb saw through a Papazyan bluff. That ill-timed move dropped Papazyan back down to the basement and forced him to scratch back into the tournament again. On Hand 71 against Shvarts, Papazyan would check-call a Shvarts bet after an A-J-8 flop. After Shvarts fired out a half-million chip bet on a deuce turn, however, Papazyan shoved his remaining chips to the center. Shvarts called and turned up an A-10 for top pair, but Papazyan had hit gold with his J♣ 8♣ (two pair). Needing to dodge a deuce or another Ace, a trey on the river gave the double up to Papazyan and sent Shvarts to the cellar; Shvarts would be eliminated on the very next hand in fifth place by Papazyan.

Papazyan stepped on the gas following Shvarts’ departure. He knocked off Heeb in fourth place, his pocket Aces standing tall against Heeb’s pocket tens, and once Donovan eliminated Reynolds in third place in a “battle of the short stacks,” Papazyan went to heads up against Donovan with a massive lead. Holding 10.44 million chips against Donovan’s 6.34 million, Papazyan was the odds-on favorite to win the Maryland Live! championship.

Donovan had played outstanding poker throughout the run of this particular WPT event, but he would never get close to Papazyan’s monstrous stack. Over the next 55 hands, Donovan would scramble his way close to eclipsing Papazyan, but each time he drew near, he would get knocked down. On Hand 162, the final knockdown would occur.

Donovan didn’t try to draw in Papazyan on that hand, instead pushing his stack to the center for nearly three million chips pre-flop. Papazyan squeezed out his cards and immediately made the call, turning up pocket Kings for the penultimate battle versus Donovan’s A-4 off suit. The Jack-high board didn’t bring the saving Ace that Donovan badly needed, sending him to the rail in second place and crowning Papazyan with his second WPT title of the year.

1. Art Papazyan, $389,405
2. Zachary Donovan, $262,930
3. Tom Reynolds, $168,990
4. Randal Heeb, $120,165
5. Grigoriy Shvarts, $92,015
6. Timothy Chang, $76,620

With the win at Maryland Live!, Papazyan enters rarefied air in WPT history. He joins 26 other men in having won at least two WPT events, but it is more impressive that he joins a small fraternity that have won two tournaments in a season. That list has only seven other names on it, with Gus Hansen (Season I), Howard Lederer (Season I), Erick Lindgren (Season II), Tuan Le (Season III), Darren Elias (Season XIII), Anthony Zinno (Season XIII) and Sam Panzica (Season XV) welcoming Papazyan into the club. As the Season XVI schedule is but six events old, there will be plenty of opportunities for Papazyan to put himself into WPT annals as the only player to ever win three WPT Main Event tournaments in the same season.

The post Art Papazyan Wins Second WPT Title at WPT Maryland Live! Main Event appeared first on Poker News Daily.

Earlier this week, the World Poker Tour announced the remainder of its Season XVI schedule. On the roster of events were the usual suspects that have been a part of the WPT for quite some time, tournaments such as the Borgata Winter Poker Open and the L. A. Poker Classic. While those tournaments have been on the schedule of the WPT for years – in the case of the LAPC, since the WPT’s inception – there is one notable absence on the roster of events.

In one fell swoop and with no reason given, the Bay 101 Shooting Star was knocked off the list of tournaments for Season XVI of the WPT. The elimination of the tournament also destroys the popular WPT “California Swing,” another reward that the players enjoyed and competed for hard. This rather rude departure has many clamoring for justice – hey WPT…bring back the Shooting Star!

The Bay 101 Shooting Star has been a part of the WPT schedule since the second year of the tour and it held the distinction of being arguably the most unique tournament on the schedule. The Shooting Star was a bounty tournament, one in which 50 top tournament poker professionals entered with a monetary bounty on their heads, and until the advent of the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble the ONLY bounty tournament on a major tour’s schedule. Along with this, there were usually two-Day Ones in which the end-of-day leader of each was given a sizeable bonus for the achievement. The bounties and the achievement bonuses allowed some players to take part in the event and, without even cashing from the tournament itself, earn back their buy in or even more.

The players responded in droves year after year for this tournament. Earlier this year the tournament saw its peak number of entries, with 806 entries received for the tournament (the Shooting Star originated as a $10,000 event; by 2016, it was a $7500 buy in), and pros were actually on a waiting list to be chosen to be a Shooting Star for the event. Thus, it is obvious that it isn’t that the tournament wasn’t doing well enough to be a part of the WPT schedule.

With all of this evidence, just why did the WPT decide to knock off the Bay 101? That’s the perplexing thing…there hasn’t been a reason given for the erasure of the Shooting Star from the WPT schedule. If they were looking to eliminate a tournament, the powers in charge could have cut one of the multiple stops they make at the Borgata or at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL.

If it was because of the number of players, there were other options available. While it is nice that the WPT is trying to put the “world” back in its name, the WPT Amsterdam only drew 224 entries back in May. Additionally, the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic pulled in 489 players in February. If the WPT isn’t happy with a tournament whose entry figures had gone up in each of the last four years during a time when there has, at the minimum, been a plateau in tournament poker participation, then there isn’t a tournament on the schedule that can feel secure.

Could it have been nothing to do with the WPT? Could the Bay 101 have said, “We’re tired of putting this tournament on. We’re tired of tying up our card room for a week with only this tournament going on (not true, but just saying). We could make better use of this time by not having the WPT come into town.” When you write it out like that, then you can see the lunacy in the statements and conclude that the Bay 101 didn’t decide to suddenly shut down the Shooting Star.

Was there not enough time in the schedule? This never stopped the WPT before. The “California Swing” was unique in that it put three tournaments within a month-long window (the “California Swing” was the LAPC, the Shooting Star and the WPT Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, CA). Instead of leaving the space between as was tradition, the LAPC ends on March 1 and the WPT Rolling Thunder starts March 2. And before you say there isn’t the room after the close of the WPT Rolling Thunder, there is six open weeks before the finale of Season XVI at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is contested. (Writer’s note:  A spokesperson for the WPT contacted Poker News Daily following this editorial and stated that it was not the choice of the WPT to discontinue their association with the Shooting Star event.)

The man in the difficult spot is WPT Executive Tour Director (and the creator of the Bay 101 Shooting Star BEFORE the WPT came along) Matt Savage. While he wants to see his creation a part of the schedule, he must acquiesce to his bosses at the WPT. Earlier this week, Savage mentioned to this writer that “he wasn’t happy” about the exclusion of the Shooting Star, but he was talking with Bay 101 to try to figure out the future of the tournament.

Perhaps all it will take is a little uproar from the fans and the players and the WPT will put the status quo back in place. As of now, however, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star is no more. The history books will show that Sam Panzica was its final champion – at least while it was a WPT event – but there are hopes that this was just a mistake made by the WPT.

The post Editorial: WPT, Bring Back the Shooting Star! appeared first on Poker News Daily.

The World Poker Tour recently released the remainder of its Season XVI schedule and, for the most part, the usual suspects were a part of the roster of events. There was one quite noticeable absence, however, as the Bay 101 Shooting Star was not in its usual spot between the WPT L. A. Poker Classic and the WPT Rolling Thunder.

On the WPT schedule since the Season II schedule, the Bay 101 Shooting Star was one of the most popular tournaments on the WPT schedule. Until recently, it was unique in that it was the only bounty tournament on the WPT schedule. Players could enter the event (it started as a $10,000 buy-in tournament but, by last year, the buy-in was reduced to $7500) and, if they eliminated a few of the 50 poker professionals who were “bounties” in the tournament, they could eliminate their buy-in without having to cash. It also awarded a bonus payout for the leaders after the two-part Day Ones.

These little bonuses for the players brought them out in droves. Professional poker players scrambled to be named one of the “bounties” for the tournament, wearing it as a badge of honor to signify that they were a “notable” in the tournament poker world. It also translated into very nice crowds for the tournament. After starting in 2004 with what was then an unheard of 243 players (and a rousing final table that featured poker pro Phil Gordon defeating defending World Champion Chris Moneymaker for the championship), the 2017 version of the tournament brought in 806 entries, its best performance in its history (and saw Sam Panzica win his second event of the Season XV schedule).

Thus, the actual background on why the WPT didn’t have the Bay 101 Shooting Star on the schedule was a bit of a mystery. The reason for the removal of the fan- and player-favorite tournament wasn’t given in any press release from the WPT or from Bay 101, but now someone for whom the tournament is near to their heart has spoken up. In reaction to Poker News Daily’s editorial on the subject, WPT Executive Tournament Director Matt Savage reached out, clearing away the cobwebs as to why the Bay 101 was taken off the Season XVI schedule.

Poker News Daily: OK, let’s get right to it. Why isn’t the Bay 101 Shooting Star on the Season XVI schedule?

Matt Savage:  It was mutually agreed upon between officials on both sides that the Bay 101 would not be a part of the Season XVI World Poker Tour schedule. Bay 101 will always have a special place in the WPT history books and we would encourage players to continue to visit our friends at Bay 101 Casino.

PND:  Will the Bay 101 Shooting Star return to the schedule in the future?

MS:  We have seen events return to the WPT schedule in the past, as evidenced by the most recent return of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open (at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL) to the Season XVI schedule. We have a group of very exciting events on the roster, including the six newly announced stops, and we look forward to players joining us in Europe (the first-ever WPT European Championship will be contested in January) and throughout the United States and Canada.

PND:  The Bay 101 Shooting Star is something that is very close to your heart, having created the tournament. What are your thoughts on the subject?

MS:  If we are going to do the Shooting Star tournament, I want to do it right. The Shooting Star may be a no-go this year on the WPT, but of course I’d love to run it this year and, hopefully, we can bring it back to the WPT in 2019.

Poker News Daily would like to thank Matt for clearing up the story a bit regarding the Bay 101 Shooting Star. While it would be good to see it continue uninterrupted, players can hope that it returns in some manner – whether it be a “stand alone” tournament or as a part of the WPT roster of events.

The post Matt Savage and World Poker Tour Issues Statement Regarding Taking Shooting Star Off Season XVI Schedule appeared first on Poker News Daily.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Bounty Scramble $5,000 buy-in Main Event begins this weekend and, if you read the words that came before this one, you likely saw the word “bounty” in the title of the event. As a follow-up, I bet you are curious who the bounties in the tournament will be. You’re are in luck – you don’t have to go hunting for that information because we have it for you right here, on this very website that you stumbled upon today.

The announced bounties for the upcoming WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville, Florida are:

James Calderaro
Tyler Patterson
Richard Seymour
Eric “Barstool Nate” Nathan
Loni Harwood
Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi
Nabil “Doc” Hierzi
Mike Sexton
Allison Hollander
Matt Affleck
Jessica Dawley
Darren Elias
John Hesp
Sam Soverel
Shannon Shorr
Anthony Zinno
Byron Kaverman
Esther Taylor Brady
Noah Schwartz
Matt Stout
Ebony Kenney
Matt Savage
Marvin Rettenmaier
Sean Winter
Chance Cornuth
Ari Engel
Tom Marchese
Ryan Riess

The bounties will work like they generally do in other tournaments. Any player who eliminates one of the players marked as a bounty (it’s certainly possible that there may be other bounties not on the list above) will receive $2,500. Thus, there will be a whole bunch of players who will be playing in the Main Event for half of the buy-in. There is no limit to number of bounty awards a player can win, so it is fully possible to freeroll or even profit without even “making the money.”

The chip leaders at the end of Days 1A and 1B will also win a $5,000 prize. The money for the bounties and the chip leaders prizes will be taken out of the prize pool, which doesn’t sound wonderful, but I don’t think we should expect the casino or the WPT to just put up all that extra money. The Main Event has a $1 million guaranteed prize pool, anyway.

It is nice to see the bestbet Bounty Scramble on the schedule, since one of the most popular events on the poker calendar every year, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, has been eliminated this season (can we at least get a bounty from the knockout?). Players flocked to Bay 101 for the tournament and it was arguably the most pure fun people had playing big ticket tournament poker. The players who were designated as bounties got to wear medals at the tables and they would autograph a t-shirt with their face on it for the player who took all their chips. Todd Brunson was famous for his expletive-laced diatribes that took up both sides of the shirt. Being named a bounty target – a “shooting star” at the Bay 101 was an honor and almost all stars had a great attitude and sense of humor about it.

In an interview with my colleague Earl Burton, WPT Executive Director Matt Savage said that “It was mutually agreed upon between officials on both sides that the Bay 101 would not be a part of the Season XVI World Poker Tour schedule.”

The post WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble Featured Bounties Revealed appeared first on Poker News Daily.

The penultimate day of the latest World Poker Tour event is at hand as the final table has been determined for the 2017 WPT Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City, NJ. Coming to the six-handed table, Matt Parry has taken a sizeable lead as Day 3 chip leader and Jersey native Cliff Josephy hangs on by the short stack.

24 men came back to the tables on Thursday with the goal of being one of the final six at the end of the night. Josephy was the only player who was over the four million mark in chips (4.079 million, to be exact), but that didn’t mean there weren’t challenges awaiting him. Parry (3.398 million), Day 2 chip leader David Gerassi (3.354 million), Gregory Weber (2.651 million) and Will Givens (2.426 million) rounded out the Top Five as the cards went into the air on Friday.

Although the 24 men were guaranteed $16,306 for their efforts, every man was staring at the $789,058 (not to mention the seat at the WPT Tournament of Champions and their name being etched into the Champions’ Cup) that the eventual champion would receive. As such, the early play was tentative as players guarded their chips. Poker pro Erik Cajelais was one of the early casualties, however, with the Canadian running a suited A-7 into Veselin Katrandzhiev’s K-Q off suit and getting unlucky when a King hit on the turn.

The start to Josephy’s Day 4 was good as he extended his lead over the field. After opening the betting off the hijack, Alexander Farin popped his remaining 400K or so in chips into the center from the button. Josephy paused briefly before making the call and finding himself leading, his A-10 routing Farin’s A-6. A ten on the flop extended Josephy’s lead and, although the turn would bring a gut shot draw for Farin, the river paired to keep the former “November Niner” in front to take the hand to move up to almost five million chips and the knockout of Farin.

It wasn’t the same story for another former chip leader, Gerassi. On a Q♦ 3♦ 3♥ 2♦ flop and turn, Gerassi put the pressure on Gregory Weber by moving all in. Gerassi covered Weber and Weber took his time to make the call, burning through four of his six “time extension” chips before finally making the call. It turned out to be the correct move as Weber’s J♥ J♦ had Gerassi’s J♣ 9♦ drawing dead. A river 5♦ would momentarily elate Gerassi until he realized that Weber’s diamond Jack beat his diamond nine, sending the nearly six million chip pot and the chip lead to Weber; Gerassi was left with scraps with 387K and soon after hit the rail in 21^st place.

Weber and Josephy ruled the roost when the redraw came at two tables (along with Parry, who eliminated Jason Gooch in 17^th place to reach five million in chips), but the threesome would unfortunately end up on the same table against each other. You might think that they would have stayed away from each other but, on the eight handed tables, it was inevitable that there would be conflicts. Parry was the one who took advantage of these squabbles, first cutting some chips out Weber and they rivering a seven-high straight against Josephy to pick up another chunk of chips to take over the lead. What wasn’t happening were eliminations, however, as it took more than five hours (including a dinner break) to get down to the unofficial final table.

Parry was dominant at this point, holding 7.075 million in chips and only Weber within shouting distance with his 5.6 million in chips. Josephy struggled through the time leading to dinner, dropping down into the pursuit pack as the players tried to determine who would be the six men who would come back on Friday for action.

Once again it was Parry who would take advantage of the action. He quietly kept accumulating chips before he brought the evening’s festivities to a close with its last elimination. On the 49^th hand of the unofficial final table, Parry would raise the betting and Muarem Kica moved all in over his bet. The call for Parry was a pittance of his sizeable stack and it was the correct one, his A-K holding the edge over Kica’s 7-6. The King on the flop basically ended the proceedings and, once a four fell on the turn, Kica was drawing dead. The formality of the river tossed salt on the wound as a seven came, but Kica was already on his way to the cage for his seventh-place money as Parry took a sizeable lead:

1. Matt Parry, 9.11 million
2. Gregory Weber, 6.99 million
3. Thomas Paul, 6.1 million
4. Jia Liu, 4.81 million
5. Guo Liang Chen, 3.85 million
6. Cliff Josephy, 2.95 million

Today’s final table from the Borgata will be taped for future broadcast on the Season XVI schedule of the WPT on Fox Sports 1. It will also be live streamed on PokerGO (with a 30-minute delay) beginning at 3:30PM (Eastern Time) for those who have a subscription to the site. It promises to be an exciting table as Josephy has the “hometown edge”…whether that will carry him to the title – or whether Parry’s dominance will continue – are going to be the highlights of the evening’s action.

The post 2017 WPT Borgata Poker Open Day 4: Matt Parry Takes Over Lead at Final Table, Cliff Josephy on Short Stack appeared first on Poker News Daily.

The 2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event steamed onward on Wednesday, with the final three tables being determined and Steven Greenberg taking over the chip lead with a 3.753 million chip stack.

Day 3 of the tournament saw 159 players returning to the tables at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ, but there was an ominous tone to the proceedings. With 156 players getting paid in the tournament, that meant that three people that came back to the Borgata on Wednesday would be departing quickly and with nothing to show for their efforts. The cards hit the air just after noon on Wednesday to take on this challenge and nobody wanted to be one of those who would depart on the bubble of the cash.

The first two eliminations came within 10 minutes of the opening bell, bringing the tournament to the stone money bubble with 157 players remaining. On the fifth hand of hand-for-hand play, not one but two players were knocked out to split the 156^th place money. First, Jonas Wexler went all in with a K-Q, but chip leader A. J. Kelsall looked him up with pocket fives, flopped a set and rivered an unnecessary boat to take him out. Simultaneously, Konstantinos Koufalis got the last of his chips in on an A♥ K♥ 5♥ 4♦ flop and turn against Erick But. Koufalis’ K♣ Q♥ had a few hopes against But’s A♦ J♥ (the other two Kings, any heart), but the river 7♦ ended those hopes. Although both were eliminated on the bubble, Wexler and Koufalis did get a small return on their time through earning $3064.50 each for their finish in a tie for 156^th place.

Once the money bubble popped, there was the usual “short stack rush” from the players who were just hanging on in the tournament to make the money. Micah Raskin, Esther Taylor, John Roveto, Keven Stammen, Cornel Cimpan, Ray Quartomy, Ryan D’Angelo, and Richard Seymour all picked up some cash for their efforts and, after a few hours, new contenders would emerge for the championship. In one case, that contender was almost out of the tournament before hitting a huge rush to race to the end of the night.

With a flop and turn of 6♥ 5♣ 3♣ J♥ and facing a 55K bet from his opponent (into a 70K pot), Steven Greenberg pondered the situation extensively before moving the remainder of his stack (265K) into the center. Greenberg’s opponent, Richard Foster, himself took a moment before making the call and turning up his 9♣ 4♣ for the baby flush draw. Greenberg had the goods with his 6♦ 5♦ (two pair), but he had to also feel some trepidation with the possibility of nine clubs ending his tournament. The river was a black card, but it was the K♠, giving Greenberg the double up to 600K and starting him on a hot streak.

Greenberg didn’t waste those newfound chips. He more than doubled that stack (to 1.285 million) by the time the dinner break rolled around, putting him in the Top Ten in the tournament. After the sustenance, Greenberg came back to the felt to take down former WPT champion Mike Linster in a classic race, Greenberg’s pocket Queens standing against Linster’s Big Slick, to crack the two million chip mark. Although he would double up a tough customer in Eric Afriat to fall off that perch, Greenberg didn’t take his foot off the gas. As the tournament day inched towards its conclusion, Greenberg had not only recovered those chips he gave to Afriat but also added to the stack, going over four million chips in eliminating Collin Whyte in 31^st place late in the evening.

On the last hand of the night, Joseph Giulino pushed out his last 326K in chips, the classic “double up or don’t come back tomorrow” move, and he was looked up by Adam Hendrix. Giulino’s pocket fives were ahead of Hendrix’s A-Q through the flop, but a Queen on the turn flipped the fortunes. When the river wasn’t a five, Giulino was out of the tournament in 28^th place, setting the stage for the final three tables today.

1. Steven Greenberg, 3.753 million
2. Chase Bianchi, 3.698 million
3. Stephen Song, 2.613 million
4. Raghuram Jonnalagedda, 2.503 million
5. Kane Kalas, 2.281 million
6. Daniel Aharoni, 1.994 million
7. Damjan Radanov, 1.974 million
8. David Paredes, 1.5 million
9. Spencer Champlin, 1.33 million
10. Ioannis Patsourakis, 1.309 million

Bubbling under the Top Ten are former World Champion Joseph McKeehen, (1.185 million), Afriat (1.123 million), Jonathan Little (1.1 million) and Kevin Saul (940,000). They are still in it, but Casey Yontz (495,000) and Amnon Filippi (484,000) have some work to do if they are to drive much further.

It looks as though it will be a long day on the Jersey Shore. The plans are to play from the final 27 players at noon down to the WPT final table of six. Once this is achieved, the survivors will come back on Friday with the championship hanging in the lurch, along with the $651,928 that the eventual champion will take home.

The post 2018 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event Day 3: Final Three Tables Remain, Steven Greenberg Holds Lead appeared first on Poker News Daily.

Dominating play once it reached the unofficial final table, Zach Gruneberg will hold a dominant lead when the final six players meet this afternoon to determine the champion of the 2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City.

Day 4 action began on Thursday with 27 hopefuls remaining in the chase for the championship. Steven Greenberg was the dominant player through the Day 3 festivities and his 3.753 million chip stack showed it. But it wasn’t a runaway for Greenberg, however, as Chase Bianchi was on his heels with a 3.698 million chip stack. In addition to these two men, four former WPT champions were still in the mix, with Champions’ Club members David Paredes, Eric Afriat, Jonathan Little and Kevin Saul all with viable stacks.

The exits to the tournament arena at the Borgata needed to be a revolving door for as fast as the players departed the tournament on Thursday. In less than an hour, two players were out the door. Within the first two levels of play, the field was down to 17 players as notables such as Little and Shankar Pillai found their ways to the rail. As this was going on, Greenberg was still in good shape but had given up the chip lead to Stephen Song as the field tightened up.

After Casey Yontz was bounced out in 17^th place following the second break of the day, the field was redrawn for two tables. Greenberg and Song ended up on the same table as former World Champion Joseph McKeehen and Kane Kalas, while Saul, Paredes and Afriat had to deal with Gruneberg and Bianchi. With the field bunched together, it was still a battle to see who would make the final table.

Although Gruneberg would make a slight misstep after the redraw in doubling up Saul, that would be the last mistake he would make for the night. With 1.7 million in chips, Gruneberg first picked up a double up from Bianchi to crack the three million chip mark. He would eclipse the four million chip mark in eliminating Adam Hendrix in 12^th place, his A-K hitting the world against Hendrix’s K-10 on an unbelievable A-K-10 flop. Even after the unofficial final table was determined with the elimination of Daniel Aharoni in 10^th place (by Song), Gruneberg kept his arrow pointing upwards.

Within the first 20 hands of final table action, Gruneberg had cracked the seven million mark in chips and had taken over the chip lead. That lead expanded when Gruneberg eliminated Day 3 chip leader Greenberg, his A-K playing where Greenberg’s A-8 didn’t on a 10-4-4-A-2 board, in ninth place. Now on 10 million-plus chips, Greenberg began to play a bullying “power poker” style that left everyone breathless in his wake.

Then there was the battle that truly pushed Gruneberg firmly to the fore. Gruneberg raised preflop and McKeehen called, but Song wanted to enrich the pot. He three bet the action to 675K and, after both Gruneberg and McKeehen called, saw a Q-Q-10-3 flop and turn. On that turn trey, Song bet out 850K and only Gruneberg came along to see a river nine complete the board. With a myriad of options on the table, Song fired again, this time for 1.4 million, but he was unable to shake Gruneberg, who immediately called. All Song could show was Big Slick for a missed straight draw, while Gruneberg showed pocket Jacks to take the more than six million chip pot with two pair. That pot pushed Gruneberg over 14 million chips and left the field chasing him.

Although he would give some back to Zaki in doubling him up, Gruneberg continued to storm through the remainder of the field. Gruneberg worked over the 16 million mark when down to the television table bubble and, after McKeehen eliminated Bianchi to set that television table, was over 17 million to have almost half the chips in play:

1. Zach Gruneberg, 17.6 million
2. Joseph McKeehen, 5.955 million
3. Justin Zaki, 5.565 million
4. Michael Marder, 3.08 million
5. Stephen Song, 2.74 million
6. Eric Afriat, 2.28 million

From all appearance, this is Gruneberg’s tournament to lose. Any one of the other five men will have a tough road to hoe in knocking out such tough pros as McKeehen, Zaki, Song or Afriat, and Marder didn’t get to his position because of his charm. Gruneberg, meanwhile, can either sit back and wait for someone to rise to his level or use the power of the big stack to crush his opposition. What approach he takes – and it will be seen from the start of final table play – will have a huge amount to do with how the final table plays out.

The final table will resume at 2PM (Eastern Time) and will be streamed as a part of PokerGO’s programming. It will NOT be taped for broadcast during the Season XVI schedule on Fox Sports. The eventual champion of the tournament will walk off with a $651,928 payday and their seat in this year’s WPT Tournament of Champions.

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Defying the odds by coming off the short stack, Eric Afriat earned his second World Poker Tour championship on Friday by winning the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City.

To say (and don’t groan) the deck was stacked against Afriat would be an understatement. He scraped into the final table with a 2.28 million chip stack and needed a telescope to see chip leader Zach Gruneberg and his 17.6 mountain of chips. There were also other obstacles for Afriat, including former World Champion Joseph McKeehen (5.955 million), Justin Zaki (5.565 million), Stephen Song (2.74 million) and local favorite Michael Marder (3.08 million), that he would have to overcome.

Things would get worse for Afriat from the start. After picking up some chips, he turned around and doubled up Marder to make his task more difficult. Afriat would rectify that by taking down Song in sixth place after flopping a boat against Song’s flush draw that didn’t come home. Afriat continued to be active on the felt as his chip stack fluctuated wildly as he tried to work his magic.

It would take more than 40 hands before the next elimination would occur and, when it did happen, the rich would only get richer in a stunner of a hand. After Gruneberg raised from the cutoff, Marder would call from the big blind to see an 8♣ 8♠ 6♣ flop. Marder would check-call another 300K out of the chip leader and, after a 5♠ on the turn, both players checked the straight possibilities. When the 9♣ came on the river, the fireworks would go off.

After checking the action on the previous two streets, Marder would suddenly wake up with a big 425K bet of his own. Gruneberg, however, was undaunted and moved all in over the top of Marder’s bet. Marder took a moment to ponder the situation, chucking a Time Bank chip into the hand, before making the call and showing his K♣ 3♣ for a King-high flush. That wasn’t good enough, however; Gruneberg turned up a 10♣ 7♣ for the stone nuts, the ten-high straight flush, to take down the hand and send Marder to the rail in fifth place.

At this point in the tournament, Gruneberg had nearly a 2:1 lead over McKeehen, more than a 2:1 lead over Afriat and a 2.5:1 lead over Zaki. It was going to be interesting to see who would come from the three pursuers to challenge Gruneberg, with any of the trio with enough experience to pull off a massive comeback. It almost turned out otherwise, however, as Gruneberg’ s “run good” continued.

On Hand 72, Gruneberg raised under the gun to 450K and McKeehen dropped his stack in the center from the button. Once again, Gruneberg wasted no time in making the call, tabling Big Slick to go up against McKeehen’s A-J (approximately a 70/30 edge). The Queen-high board never came close to giving McKeehen any options on winning the hand and, as he departed in fourth place, Gruneberg stacked up an even 20 million chips, more than his other two competitors had together.

That, however, would be the apex of Gruneberg’s final table. Over the next 20 hands, that 20 million in chips became 16 million as Afriat began to climb the standings. Just as quickly, however, Afriat would get knocked back as Zaki began to move up the ladder. On Hand 121, the tournament’s tide changed as Gruneberg’s mojo began to run out.

After raising the pot off the small blind, Afriat saw Gruneberg call his 525K bet and the resulting ragged rainbow 9-5-3 flop. As he had done the entire tournament, Afriat continued his aggressive play in firing another half-million pot bet, which Gruneberg called. On a turn four, another 750K came out of Afriat and, once again, Gruneberg called. The river seven put many straight options on the table, but Afriat continued to fire with a two million chip bet. Gruneberg, after a moment of pause, didn’t believe Afriat and called. He would then muck his cards as Afriat showed pocket sixes for a runner-runner straight as Afriat scooped the 7.6 million chip pot.

A few hands later, it was over for Gruneberg. Whether a slight bit tilted from the Afriat hand or what, Gruneberg pushed all in over a Zaki raised that Zaki wanted to see. Zaki’s pocket tens were ahead of Gruneberg’s A-9 off suit and the Jack-high flop didn’t do anything to improve Gruneberg. After riding high for most of the tournament, in the span of four hands Gruneberg was out in third place as heads up play was set.

After eliminating Gruneberg, Zaki was nearly a 2:1 leader (24.4 million) over Afriat (12.925 million). For almost 100 hands, Zaki maintained his lead but couldn’t lengthen it out. When the penultimate hand – the hand that truly determined the champion – came down, it brought the drama.

 On Hand 224, Afriat made it two million to go and Zaki moved all in. Afriat immediately called and tabled his Big Slick, which dominated Zaki’s K-8 off suit. That domination held through the 7-3-2-9-K board as the 34.8 million chip pot was pushed to Afriat. With only scraps left from that clash – 2.5 million – Zaki would succumb to Afriat on the very next hand, his 10-5 off suit falling to Afriat’s K-2 after Afriat miraculously went runner-runner in rivering trip deuces to beat Zaki’s flopped pair of fives.

1. Eric Afriat, $651,928
2. Justin Zaki, $434,614
3. Zach Gruneberg, $321,533
4. Joe McKeehen, $240,251
5. Michael Marder, $181,329
6. Stephen Song, $138,254

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Let’s just say that the Fallsview Casino Resort overlooking the Canadian side of Niagara Falls isn’t a venue that Mike Leah is going to stop visiting any time soon. On Monday night, Leah won his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title, taking the crown at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic in what was the tournament’s largest field ever: 517 entries. His purse for the win was CAD $451,821 (about USD $358,520).

Leah isn’t going to be a repeat customer of Fallsview just because he won last night. Leah actually has quite the history at the casino, one which has treated him extremely well. Prior to his victory, Mike Leah won the CAD $1,100 preliminary event at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic three out of the last four years: 2014, 2016, and 2017 for a total of CAD $573,334.

“To do it here, where I’ve had so much success winning three tournaments already, is pretty cool,” the Ontario native told WPT.com afterward. “So close to home, in my home country, it’s a pretty special tournament to win. I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet.”

Leah had gotten tantalizingly close to a WPT once before, finishing second to Anthony Zinno at the 2015 WPT L.A. Poker Classic. He does have one World Series of Poker bracelet – in the 2014 WSOP Asia Pacific $25,000 High Roller event – and he has a number of WSOP Circuit wins, as well.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Leah said to WPT.com. “Winning a WPT has been near the top of my goal list for a long time, especially getting so close almost exactly three years ago when I lost to Anthony Zinno heads up at LAPC, so I’ve been pretty hungry to get back here again since that.”

He’ll have a chance to improve on that runner-up finish soon, as the L.A. Poker Classic is the next stop on the World Poker Tour. Leah now has almost $7 million in live tournament earnings.

Unlike many major tournaments, the final day of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic did not begin at the final table, but rather with 20 players remaining. Leah was third going into Monday’s action with 1.235 million chips, 600,000+ behind the leader, Joe Ferrier.

For much of yesterday, Leah stayed in his general starting range. He dipped below 1 million chips for a little bit, then rose back up to around 1.6 million, but for the most part, he was in that 1-1.5 million chip range. The big move came with just seven players remaining when he moved all-in after some raising pre-flop and doubled through Tim Rutherford with A-K versus A-Q to jump to 3.105 million chips and into the lead. When he eliminated David Eldridge to clinch a spot at the official final table, he was in second place with 3.970 million chips.

He kept climbing from there, knocking out Joe Ferrier on the ninth hand of the final table to move to 6.930 million chips. At the start of Level 29 with four players remaining, he was at nearly 8 million. Leah couldn’t keep up the hot run for much longer, though, steadily dropping chips until, by Hand 75, he was back to second with 4.835 million. Ryan Yu had taken over the lead with 6.185 million. It really looked like Yu was going to steamroll from there, as he knocked out Carlos Chadha in third place to grow his stack to 9.630 million and then bounced Tim Rutherford in second to go into heads-up against Leah with a huge lead, 10.800 million to 4.715 million.

On literally the first hand of heads-up play, though, Leah made a bold move. Yu raised to 4 million pre-flop (the big blind was 120,000) and Leah, either holding a great hand or sensing a big bluff because of that strange bet, moved all-in. It was barely more than what Yu had put in, but Yu folded, giving Leah the chip lead.

On the next two hands, Yu continued to play rather strangely. Leah limped pre-flop and Yu raised to 5 million. Leah re-raised all-in and Yu folded, leaving him with just 1.760 million chips to Leah’s 13.755 million. Then, Yu raised pre-flop to 1.700 million and Leah shoved. Obviously, Yu needed to put his last chips in, an amount that was less than the small blind, but for some reason, he folded AGAIN, leaving himself with just 40,000 chips.

Yu survived a few more hands, but it was academic from there as Leah won his first WPT title. Unfortunately, this event was neither live streamed nor televised, so I don’t know if we will find out what Yu had in those key hands. It was bizarre.

Cover Photo Credit: World Poker Tour via Flickr licensed under CC BY 2.0

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On Tuesday, I posted a quick write-up of the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event final table, won by Mike Leah. Leah was understandably thrilled – it was his first WPT title after coming close a few years ago and he did it essentially in his own backyard. But as I read and subsequently wrote about the heads-up portion of the tournament, it looked really fishy. I didn’t say much about it in the write-up, other than it being “strange,” as I didn’t want to start launching any accusations, but a day later, the poker community has been abuzz with discussion about the end-game, so I am certainly not alone in thinking something was amiss.

To set the scene, Mike Leah and Ryan Yu were heads-up for the WPT Fallsview title. Yu had more than a 2-to-1 chip lead, 10.800 million to 4.715 million with blinds and antes at 60,000/120,000/20,000. Things instantly appear borked. Here is how the first three hands of heads-up play went, according to WPT.com (hand numbering by this writer):

Hand 1: Ryan Yu raises to 4,000,000 from the button on the first hand of heads-up play, Mike Leah (pictured) reraises all in for 4,695,000 from the big blind, and Yu folds.

Mike Leah – 8,735,000
Ryan Yu – 6,780,000

Hand 2: Mike Leah limps in from the button, and Ryan Yu raises to 5,000,000 from the big blind. Leah reraises all in for 8,715,000 and Yu folds.

Mike Leah – 13,755,000
Ryan Yu – 1,760,000

Hand 3: Ryan Yu raises to 1,700,000 from the button, and Mike Leah (pictured) pushes all in for 13,735,000 from the big blind. Yu folds, and Leah captures this pot.

“When you’re beat, you’re beat!” says Yu.

Mike Leah – 15,475,000
Ryan Yu – 40,000

So, on the first hand of heads-up play, Yu had already put in 4 million chips and only had to call another 695,000 with about 6 million left behind to possibly win the tournament right there. His fold after Leah’s all-in is puzzling, but I suppose in a vacuum one could think that maybe he was completely bluffing and didn’t want to throw good chips after bad.

The second hand is where things really start to look weird. Yu raised to 5 million pre-flop, nearly three-quarters of his chips. Nobody does that without just moving all-in. And then, once again, Leah himself shoved, forcing yet another Yu fold. It just didn’t make any sense.

Already questioning the validity of what was happening, the third hand absolute clinches that some funny business was going on. Yu raised to 1.7 million pre-flop, leaving 40,000 chips behind, one-third of a big blind. Once in a while you might see someone do something like this when the stacks are more even to save a bet for the flop, but in this case, Yu was as good as all-in without technically being all-in. BUT THEN when Leah shoved, YU FOLDED. On top of that, he had the audacity, to break out the “When you’re beat” line.

So to answer my “what the hell happened” question, it seems obvious that Yu and Leah had agreed to a deal before heads-up (the WPT.com report said there was an “unscheduled break” after the third place elimination). Deals are very common at final tables, as often players don’t want a large money jump to ride on the high variance of escalating blinds. But they still typically play it out, often leaving a little money on the table as an incentive.

But this was unlikely to be a typical deal. What probably happened was that Leah agreed to give Yu more money in exchange for the WPT title. Essentially, Leah may have “bought” the victory, perhaps by giving Yu first place money. For the win, Leah also received a seat in the WPT Tournament of Champions and first place points in the WPT Player of the Year race.

That seems like the only realistic explanation. Throw the match and I’ll make it worth your while. What is nuts is that the two men – Yu, especially – made it so damn obvious. I have heard people suggest that perhaps Yu just wanted to be done at that point, that maybe he just didn’t care and was happy with second place money, but that makes no sense. He had more than a 2-to-1 chip lead. He could very well have won the tournament fairly quickly. Additionally, if he really didn’t care and didn’t have a deal with Leah, he would’ve just gone all-in every hand. If he lost, he would’ve been fine with it and if he won, all the better. By betting heavily and then folding to Leah’s all-ins, Yu signaled his intentions to everyone.

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After a controversial tournament conclusion in Canada, the World Poker Tour has moved onward to what is one of the venerable stops on its yearly circuit. Tomorrow, the WPT L. A. Poker Classic, a tournament that has been a part of the WPT schedule since the tour’s inception, kicks off with its singular Day One of action.

As previously stated, the L. A. Poker Classic is one of only three tournaments that has been on the schedule of the WPT every year in its 16-year history (the other two are the Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Legends of Poker). It is also one of the few tournaments left on the WPT schedule that has held to its original buy in ($10,000) and that there is only one Day One for players to take part. The inaugural event, in which 136 players stepped to the fore, was also the “coming out” party for Denmark’s Gus Hansen, who won the second of his three WPT titles in this tournament.

The tournament field more than doubled in its second itineration in 2004, with 382 players stepping to the line and first place paying more than $1.3 million. This year would also mark the unveiling of another player who would go on to poker greatness, Antonio Esfandiari, who defeated Vinnie Vinh (before his “chair” days) in heads up play. This history of bringing “poker’s next great player” to the notice of the public continued in 2005, when Michael Mizrachi announced his presence to the world in defeating a 538-player field (and Haralabos Voulgaris heads up) in winning nearly $2 million and the Frederic Remington “Bronco Buster” trophy, arguably the second biggest trophy to get (besides a World Series of Poker bracelet).

2006 would mark the final WPT LAPC before the UIGEA would be passed and it was one for the record books. 692 players came out for action and the top two finishers in the tournament each earned over a million dollars, with the first-place finisher eventually receiving a $2,391,550 payday (the third highest ever payday on the WPT). Alan Goehring would be the recipient of that payday, defeating Daniel Quach in heads up play to take the title.

2007 was the last high mark for the WPT LAPC, at least as far as players and prize pool. 791 players set the record for the WPT LAPC (and kudos to the Commerce Casino, the host of the LAPC, for never lowering the buy-in to affect the record books) and the $2,429,970 that the first-place finisher received was the second biggest payday ever in WPT history (first goes to the champion of the 2007 Doyle Brunson Classic, Eugene Katchalov, at the Bellagio; Katchalov won $2,482,605). Eric Hershler outlasted poker professional J. C. Tran (who himself received $1.1 million-plus for his efforts) to win the championship that year.

Since 2008, the numbers have remained strong for the LAPC and so has the quality of its champions. Phil Ivey, Cornell Cimpan, Andras Koroknai, Gregory Brooks, Sean Jazayeri, Paul Klann (514), Chris Moorman, Anthony Zinno, Dietrich Fast and defending champion Daniel Strelitz have all hoisted the WPT Champions Cup and, in each instance, pocketed over a million dollars for their efforts. The turnout of the players has been the reason for that massive payday; the fewest players (514) for these events was for Klann’s championship run.

There 2018 WPT L. A. Poker Classic will kick off bright and early (for poker players) at noon on Saturday. The WPT final table of six will be played out on Thursday, with the next million-dollar recipient (the Commerce Casino is guaranteeing a first-place prize of $1 million, even though the WPT LAPC has NEVER fallen under that amount) being determined. The tournament will be streamed as a part of WPT’s live streaming efforts and taped for future broadcast on its Fox Sports airings.

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Day 1 is in the books for the 2018 version of the World Poker Tour’s L. A. Poker Classic and it is shaping up to be a special event. One of only three tournaments that has been contested on the WPT since its inception, the players have come out with their $10,000 buy-in (which has also been consistent since the start of the event) to put together a strong field. At the end of Day 1, John Misirian was able to stand atop the mountain after a last hand knockout gave him the lead.

The atmosphere at the Commerce Casino was festive – even at the early hour of noon – as the players gathered for the call of “shuffle up and deal.” With the singular buy-in and no rebuys, it was expected that there would be a slow stream of players coming after the starting gun, but the numbers from the start were surprising. As the cards hit the air, 282 players were waiting to receive them and it simply got better from there.

With 30,000 in chips to start the event, you would expect there to be a slow grind, but Ari Engel demonstrated the exact opposite. Within 75 minutes of the opening action, Engel had burned through those 30K in markers, with his final chips entering the fray against Felipe Davila. On a K-9-8-4 board, Engel called off his last 4300 in chips and tabled K-5 for top pair. That wasn’t good enough, however, as Davila had the goods with pocket Aces; the river Queen wasn’t the paint that Engel needed as he beat a hasty retreat to the exits of the Commerce.

A similar situation would occur at another table, with former WPT champion Jared Jaffee the unlikely victim. Canadian pro Noah Vaillancourt was a late arrival and, upon getting dealt in, mistakenly put out a large 4000 chip bet (blinds were 75/150 at the time) from under the gun. Nobody was interested in tangling with Vaillancourt until action came to Jaffee on the button, who three bet the action to 11K. Once the blinds were out of the way, Vaillancourt indicated he was ready to go home just as quickly as he arrived, placing his entire 30K up on his first hand. Jaffee made the call and the race was on:

Vaillancourt – A-K
Jaffee – pocket Queens

To make a long story short, an Ace came on the board to provide salvation for Vaillancourt. At the same time, it sent the former WPT champion Jaffee home after only two hours of play.

By the time Level 5 started late in the afternoon, 462 players were entered in the tournament. Of that number, 413 were still around with a shot at winning one of the most prestigious titles on the WPT circuit. With three more levels left in the Day 1 action, there was still time for players to enter the tournament, but it was beginning to run short.

As the final hours of the opening day wore on, there were other top pros who wouldn’t earn the right to come back on Sunday for action. Ryan Hughes, WPT Champions Club member Mike Shariatti, Adam Geyer and Blake Battaglia would all find the rail by the time the final hand was dealt. It was that final hand, however, that gave the chip leader his lead.

Misirian had dodged a bullet only a few hands earlier when, on the river with pocket Queens against Roman Korenev’s pocket Aces, he was able to pull one of the two ladies left in the deck to rocket into the chip lead. Sitting on a very healthy stack, Misirian wasn’t content on cruising to the end, though, as he went to war against Sean Winter in the last hand of the evening. With pocket Queens, Misirian was able to dodge the flush draw of Winter and knock him out, setting Misirian up well for Day 2 action.

1. John Misirian, 234,300
2. Toby Lewis, 149,000
3. Adam Regiaba, 145,000
4. Peter Hengsakul, 129,900
5. Derek Gregory, 126,900
6. Candie Vaca, 124,900
7. Tim Cramer, 123,100
8. Casey McCarrel, 120,900
9. Lloyd, Mandel, 120,000
10. Duy Ho, 118,000

475 players were on the clock at the close of Day 1 action (and 282 were still alive), but that isn’t the final field. Late registration is open until the end of Level 10, meaning there’s still a great chance for the final numbers to crack the 500-player level (last year’s event drew in 521 players). But there’s a long way to go before any discussion can be made about what the prize pool will be for the 2018 WPT L. A. Poker Classic.

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Barely more than 100 players remain of the original 493 after Day 2 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. It should be a tense day, as 62 players get paid and there will be plenty of short stacks just trying to stay alive while the big stacks work on accumulating chips.

The race at the top is extremely tight, which is not something we frequently see at this stage in a major tournament. There is often one player who pulls ahead at this point (and often drops down later); sometimes two players form their own mini peloton. But in this case, the top FOUR players are within 10,000 chips of each other and another three are not too far behind.

Kimbo Ung is the chip leader with 379,400 chips, but hot on his heels are Chance Kornuth (374,400), Dennis Blieden (370,500), and John Misirian (370,000). In the fifth spot is Tan Nguyen with 350,000 and then, after a bit of a gap, are Marc Macdonnell with 333,200 and Toby Lewis with 315,300. Seven players with more than 300,000 chips. Should be a fun day at the top and bottom of the standings.

Ung, who won his seat in a $1,100 satellite, told WPT.com at the end of the day that he didn’t really do anything special to get to that position.

“I just gradually built, the same thing yesterday and today. I just keep chipping up. I’ve lost a few pots here and there. I lost a big pot at the end, I would have had 500,000 if I didn’t lose that pot,” he said. “I didn’t have any good hands at all, I just kept playing the suited connectors and building up little by little.”

The hand to which Ung referred appears to be the last one that WPT.com reported for Day 2. The site caught up with the action on the flop with the board reading J♣-9♥-2♠. There was about 40,000 already in the pot and Ung raised a 17,500 chip bet to 38,000. Kornuth thought about it and re-raised to 77,200. Ung then tanked for a couple minutes before finally folding. Kornuth showed 6♣-7♣.

As mentioned, there were 493 entries in the $9,500 + $500 tournament, creating a prize pool of almost $4.7 million. $1 million will be awarded to the winner, which was the guaranteed first prize. Payouts go down to 62nd place; the min-cash is $16,640.

According to TheHendonMob.com, Kimbo Ung has but two live tournament cashes, which is double the number that this writer has (and mine isn’t even recorded on TheHendonMob.com). One is for just $585, but the other is a sweet $125,901 cash for winning the 2010 Heartland Poker Tour Las Vegas Main Event. Thus, any sort of cash will be significant to Ung relative to his career earnings.

2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders

1. Kimbo Ung – 379,400
2. Chance Kornuth – 374,400
3. Dennis Blieden – 370,500
4. John Misirian – 370,000
5. Tan Nguyen – 350,000
6. Marc Macdonnell – 333,200
7. Toby Lewis – 315,300
8. Jean Gaspard – 298,000
9. Manuel Martinez – 276,500
10. Sam Sanusi – 254,500

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The field at the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Main Event was whittled from 102 to 31 on Monday as the money bubble burst. Jeremy White is the chip leader with 1.552 million chips, giving him a sizable advantage over the field, as the closest competitor, Manuel Martinez, has 1.035. They are the only two players with more than 1 million chips.

White told WPT.com that it helped to be a big stack at his table most of the day, as he was able to swing his chip towers (figuratively) like a cudgel.

“Having chips is obviously a big advantage,” White said. “Just like today, there weren’t many people with chips at my table, and I was really able to put them to the test. So I will try to do the same thing tomorrow.”

This is already the second-largest cash of White’s career. According to TheHendonMob.com, he has four live tournament cashes totaling just over $71,000. Most of that came from a $50,000 score in a World Series of Poker Circuit event in October. Should he be the first eliminated on Tuesday (which he probably won’t be), he would earn $27,830. The next pay increase will happen with the 25th place elimination.

White went on a tear late, leaving wreckage all around him at his table. As early evening became night, he eliminated Frank Lin in 41st place. After White raised pre-flop, Lin moved all-in for 110,000 chips with pocket Aces. This being poker, White had pocket Sevens and was able to spike a Seven on the river to take out Lin.

Right after that, Kristina Holst was all-in pre-flop was A-Q and White called with pocket Sixes. Holst was unable to improve and she was gone in 40th place.

Then, just a short time later, White took care of a man we all know has an idea of how to navigate the end game of major tournaments. According to WPT.com, Tan Nguyen raised pre-flop, 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe McKeehen called, White called, and Udaid Habib called. The four saw a flop of A-9-7 and it was checked around to Nguyen, who led out with a bet. McKeehen called, but then White, perhaps wanting to throw his weight around, raised all-in, having everyone covered. Habib and Nguyen folded, but after some thought, McKeehen called for 115,000 chips. He had A-J for top pair, while it looks like White probably had A-Q for top pair with a better kicker – it was unclear from the WPT report. But since the Queen on the turn gave White “a winning two pair,” it does seem like A-Q were his hole cards, as that made the river meaningless. The 2015 WSOP champ was out in 37th place.

Also of note is the presence of Phil Hellmuth in the top ten. Hellmuth, though he has won a record 14 WSOP bracelets, has never won a World Poker Tour title.

2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Day 3 Chip Leaders

1. Jeremy White – 1,552,000
2. Manuel Martinez – 1,035,000
3. Dennis Blieden – 907,000
4. Chance Kornuth – 715,000
5. Toby Lewis – 670,000
6. Mark Briggs – 666,000
7. Benjamin Zamani – 650,000
8. John Misirian – 600,000
9. Victor Crisostomo – 591,000
10. Phil Hellmuth – 566,000

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Back during the poker boom of – my god – about a decade and a half ago, World Poker Tour broadcasts sucked in poker fans. But as the years went on and the airwaves became saturated with poker shows, the episodes drew fewer eyeballs. Just a few years ago, especially as recreational poker players in the U.S. stopped playing online poker after Black Friday, it looked like the WPT – and even World Series of Poker broadcasts – were in trouble. But the WPT didn’t die. In fact, the Tour has been on one heck of an upswing the last few years and as such, World Poker Tour Enterprises, Inc. has extended CEO Adam Pliska’s contract for another four years.

“Adam Pliska’s tremendous leadership, successful track record, and proven strategic vision make him the perfect individual to continue to guide WPT Enterprises into the future,” said Frank Ng, CEO of Ourgame, the WPT’s parent company, in a press release Tuesday. “Adam has undoubtedly taken the company to new heights through expansion of the WPT brand into new and emerging markets, continued development and innovation in the digital gaming space, and unparalleled sustainability of gaming’s premier television product.”

China-based Ourgame bought the World Poker Tour in 2015 for $35 million cash, deal led on the Tour’s end by Pliska. Six years earlier, the WPT was sold to a subsidiary of PartyGaming for just $12.3 million, shortly after World Poker Tour Enterprises had announced that it had sold to Gamynia Limited for $9 million. Needless to say, that deal was cancelled, but to think that one of the most important companies in the poker world was sold for just $12.3 million was a tad nuts.

Under Pliska’s leadership, though, the WPT has grown immensely. He has helped grow the WPT from 14 tournaments to 70, adding the high stakes WPT Alpha8, WPTDeepStacks, and WPT National series of events to the flagship tour, referred to as simply the Main Tour.

It was once a bit of a joke that the World Poker Tour was once played almost entirely in North America and while U.S.-based stops are still the core of the Main Tour, it is now truly an international poker tour.

“I am honored to have the incredible privilege to continue to lead this great company,” Pliska said. “I look forward to building on the successful strategies that have allowed the World Poker Tour to continue to raise the bar of our industry. I believe we have only begun to unlock the full potential of the WPT.”

Pliska was a finalist for the Industry Person of the Year award at the 4th Annual American Poker Awards, handed out last week. WPTDeepStacks won the award for Mid-Major Circuit of the Year. Pliska won the Industry Person of the Year award in 2014; the World Poker Tour’s founder, Steve Lipscomb, won the Lifetime Achievement Award that year, as well.

In an interview with PokerListings last April, Pliska talked about how to keep his company and the industry strong:

We will all need to hold the industry accountable to make sure that the standards stay high because if people start getting bad experiences it can atrophy. We forget that.

We’ve gotta continue to treat the new player in a way that’s respectful and not just look at them like they’re fish.

Social gamers are not all fish. Some of them aren’t out to win, they’re just having fun. What’s the big deal?

In the future we need to continue to think about showing the proper respect and try to fulfill each player’s needs.

The industry puts too much in one basket. That happened with real-money gaming, for instance. That goes the same for social gaming or tournaments. Let’s just take a long-term approach.

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The six-handed final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic was determined Wednesday evening, with Toby Lewis finishing the day as the chip leader. It is really a two man show going into Thursday’s action, as Lewis has 5.390 million chips and Dennis Blieden has 4.125 million. None of the other four players have more than 1.7 million chips. Everyone is guaranteed at least $186,235 at this point, but they all have their sights set on the $1 million first prize.

The two chip leaders could have been in reversed positions had it not been for the final two hands of the night. On the penultimate hand, according to the WPT.com hand history, Blieden raised pre-flop to 60,000 chips. Lewis called, Greg Paryani called, and Marc Macdonnell called. The four saw a flop of K-7-7 and all checked to bring on the turn of K. It checked to Blieden, who bet 105,000. Only Macdonnell made the call. The river card was a 2 and Macdonnell checked to Blieden, who bet 400,000. Macdonnell tanked, using two time extension chips in the process, and then finally decided to look Blieden up.

It was a great call by Macdonnell, as Blieden had just T-2, which meant he was playing the two pair on the board and using his Ten as a kicker. Macdonnell had 8-8, giving him a better two pair.

On the next hand, which would be the last one of the night, Lewis limped pre-flop for 30,000, Paryani called, and Blieden checked in the big blind. The flop was Q-9-8 and Blieden checked, Lewis bet 65,000, Paryani raised to 180,000, and Blieden got out of the way. Lewis then went over the top all-in and Paryani called all-in for 780,000 chips.

Lewis had Q-9 for top two pair, but was behind Paryani’s set of 8’s. The turn was a King and the river was an Ace, though, giving Lewis a runner-runner straight and eliminating Paryani in seventh place on the edge of the televised final table.

This is Toby Lewis’ third World Poker Tour final table. He previous finished sixth in the 2013 WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event and fourth in the 2014 partypoker WPT Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event. He is coming off a massive victory in January’s Aussie Millions Main Event, where he won $1,178,513. Lewis also has a European Poker Tour title and nearly $4.4 million in live tournament earnings.

This is also the third WPT final table for Derek Wolters, who is currently fourth in chips with 1.520 million.

The WPT L.A. Poker Classic televised final table will commence at 4:00pm PST Thursday. The live stream will be on a 30-minute delay and will begin, accordingly, at 4:30pm.

2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts

1. Toby Lewis – 5,390,000
2. Dennis Blieden – 4,125,000
3. Marc Macdonnell – 1,695,000
4. Derek Wolters – 1,520,000
5. Peter Hengsakul – 1,065,000
6. Manuel Martinez – 985,000

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Not content with the outstanding season that they have put forth to this point, the powers at the World Poker Tour have decided to expand the schedule once again this year. It is but another event on the calendar, but it is what used to be their traditional Las Vegas home and where some of the biggest moments in WPT history have occurred.

The WPT announced today the creation of the WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship, a $10,000 buy-in tournament that will be played out from May 1-6 in Sin City. This big money tournament will be joined by the $25,000 WPT High Roller tournament, which will take place from May 4-6 on the same grounds. These two events will be a powerful one-two punch as the WPT invades Vegas for a month of tournaments in the city.

The High Roller will feature another first-time event – the first time a WPT event will start in one location and finish in another. The High Roller’s opening action will be contested at the Bellagio, but the final table will be moved to a brand-new location. The final day of the tournament will take place on Sunday, May 27, at the Esports Arena Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel and Casino, a special Esports battleground built by Allied Esports.

Adam Pliska, the Chief Executive Officer of the World Poker Tour, said during the announcement of the new events, “Home to the first-ever World Poker Tour event, the iconic Bellagio holds a truly special place in WPT history. We are proud to return to where it all began as we start a new chapter for the tour and look forward to showcasing the game’s best at both Bellagio and Allied Esports’ new Esports Arena Las Vegas in May.”

Craig Lumpp, the director of poker operations at the Bellagio, echoed those statements. “Building off the recent record-setting success of our WPT Five Diamond, we are thrilled to welcome back the World Poker Tour to Bellagio for the WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship,” Lumpp commented. “Complete with a $25,000 High Roller event and several other premier tournaments, we look forward to hosting the top poker players in the world at Bellagio in April and May.”

The Bellagio used to be the site for the season finale for the WPT. For years the tour would close their season with the WPT World Championship. That event for years was a $25,000 “big bang” that made the history books in 2007 when Carlos Mortensen took home the largest ever WPT prize of nearly $4 million ($3,970,415, to be exact). By 2011 (Season 11), however, the numbers had fallen off for the WPT World Championship (to 146 players) and it was moved to the Borgata in Atlantic City and the buy in reduced.

With the addition of these two new events – which will both be broadcast during the upcoming season of the WPT on Fox Sports 1 that begins on April 29 – the total events on the Season XVI schedule now totals 19 tournaments. Not in that count is the WPT Tournament of Champions that will conclude the season following the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on May 20. The additional events at the Bellagio will bring the Season XVI total events just under the 21 events (counting the ToC) that were on the Season XV roster.

The two new events also ensure that the WPT will be the focal point of the poker world for much of the month of May. With the WPT Elite Poker Championship and the WPT $25,000 High Roller at the Bellagio and the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic and the WPT Tournament of Champions at ARIA, the WPT will engage poker audiences until deep in the month. At that point, the World Series of Poker begins as the WPT takes a break.

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In a classic battle of “David versus Goliath” Dennis Blieden, who had only cashed twice in his tournament poker career, was able to vanquish poker pro Toby Lewis to win the 25^th running (and 16^th under the World Poker Tour banner) of the L. A. Poker Classic’s Championship Event.

Lewis led the six-man final table as they gathered together on Thursday afternoon to determine the champion. Blieden, for his part, was within shouting distance of Lewis’ stack (5.39 million to Blieden’s 4.125 million), while the remainder of the field looked to play catchup. Marc MacDonnell (1.695 million), Derek Wolters (1.52 million), Peter Hengsakul (1.065 million) and Manuel Martinez (985K) all had their work cut out for them if they were going to get in the mix for the title.

Blieden came out of the gates on a rampage, winning four of the first five hands, and would be responsible for the first elimination only six hands in. On Hand 6, Martinez raised the flop from under the gun and Blieden, out of position in the big blind, made the call to see an 8-8-2 flop. Blieden would then check-raise a Martinez continuation bet, which Martinez only called, to see a six on the turn. Blieden once again led out, this time for 230K, and after Martinez came over the top of his bet with an all-in move, Blieden was more than happy to call.

Martinez had a beautiful pair of ladies in his pocket, but the whims of fate had struck for Blieden. His 8-6 had found trips on the flop and filled up the boat on the turn, leaving Martinez looking for one of the remaining Queens in the deck to reverse his fortunes. Another six on the river gave Martinez three pair, still not good enough to beat Blieden’s boat, and send him out of the tournament in sixth place.

That hand would temporarily move Blieden into the lead, but Lewis would take it back with authority a few hands later. After limping into a pot, Wolters would call but Blieden would three bet the action. Lewis made the call and Wolters folded as the dealer fanned out the innocuous 8-3-2 flop. Blieden aggressively led out and, after a moment of thought, Lewis made the call. On a ten turn, Blieden fired again for 360K and, pondering for a moment again, Lewis made the call. A King came on the river and it was Blieden’s turn to pause, using up a Time Bank chip before firing his third bullet (of 785K) at the pot. Lewis didn’t hesitate this time, calling the bet and showing pocket fives for FOURTH pair. Surprisingly, it was good; Blieden was pushing air with his Q-9 off suit and, soon after he showed his hand, the 3 million-plus pot and the chip lead were pushed to Lewis.

Undaunted, Blieden went back to work in building his stack back up. He knocked out Hengsakul in fifth place, but it was another clash with Lewis that put him back into the lead. 25 hands after losing that big pot to Lewis, Blieden would turn a flush against Lewis to capture a nearly four million chip pot to rocket up to 7.05 million. Lewis wasn’t in bad shape with his 3.63 million in chips (good for second with four players left) but he – nor anyone else at the table – would get close to Blieden again.

Although Lewis would take down both MacDonnell and Wolters in fourth and third places, respectively, Blieden steamrolled the opposition so much that he held more than a 5:1 edge when heads up play began. On the second hand of heads up (Hand 79), the final battle would commence and the tournament would be concluded.

Lewis raised the betting pre-flop and, after Blieden three-bet the action, responded with a four bet of his own. Blieden just called and saw a 6-6-3 flop, which he also check-called after a 400K bet from Lewis. The Queen on the turn saw Blieden check again and pause after Lewis hammered in his remaining 2.2 million chips. Blieden tentatively called and showed his Big Chick (A-Q), Queens up, while Lewis sprung his trap one street too late in turning up his pocket tens. Looking for one of two tens to save his tournament life, Lewis instead made an inferior full house with the six on the river, giving the championship to Blieden.

1. Dennis Blieden, $1,000,000
2. Toby Lewis, $603,630
3. Derek Wolters, $430,210
4. Marc MacDonnell, $319,310
5. Peter Hengsakul, $244,430
6. Manuel Martinez, $186,235

There is no rest for the WPT and its players. As soon as the tournament concluded at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the WPT workhorses packed up the circus and moved up the coast to the Thunder Valley Casino Resort for the WPT Rolling Thunder tournament. That tournament runs from today through March 6, with two Day Ones kicking off the action on Friday and Saturday. For now, however, Dennis Blieden is celebrating his first major poker title as the champion of the L. A. Poker Classic.

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Coming right on the heels of the WPT L. A. Poker Classic, the WPT Rolling Thunder kicked off action on Friday for the next WPT event. Located outside of Sacramento, the WPT Rolling Thunder has become one of the popular stops on the WPT circuit and, if Day 1A is any indication, the $3500 buy-in tournament is still a favorite of the players.

The newly redecorated and expanded poker room at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort was ready for action at noon on Friday and the players didn’t disappoint. For their $3500 buy-in, the players would receive a stack of 30,000 in chips and, should they be eliminated in the first Day One, would be able to re-enter once on Friday. If they shot both of those bullets off, then they could come back on Saturday and have the same two-shot option. If those four options didn’t work for players, then they could buy-in one more time before the start of Day 2, meaning that players (if really unlucky) could enter as many as five times ($17,500) if they so desired.

Defending champion Mike Del Vecchio led the professionals in the field to the line as Day 1A began. Del Vecchio was joined by other WPT Champions Club members such as Tyler Patterson, Daniel Strelitz and three-time champion Darren Elias. There was also a strong contingent of pros looking for their first WPT title, including Ari Engel, Eddy Sabat, Blair Hinkle, Amir Lehavot and Zachary Gruneberg.

After Level 2, 67 entries were already in the kitty as other pros began to stake out their patch of felt in the Thunder Valley poker room. Kathy Liebert, Darren Rabinowitz, Allen Kessler, Matt Salsberg and Jared Griener were among those players as the halfway mark of the first eight levels of play were reached. And the players continued to quietly stroll into the event, with 111 entries into the tournament at this same mark.

Although it was relatively quiet, contenders rose to the top of the standings around this point. In what would eventually become a pot that would crown the chip leader, Sean Yu was able to get his final chips in the center. He was met by a call from Sean Marshall and William Murray, who saw a J-10-8 and had the opportunity to bet into a dry side pot. Marshall took this opportunity, but Murray wasn’t ready to let it go yet and made the call. A five on the turn brought about the same action – a bet from Marshall, a call from Murray – but the river six opened several options and shut down action from both men.

When the cards were turned up, it became evident that Marshall had survived a run through the gauntlet. His K-J off suit had caught on the flop and dodged the straight outs of both Murray (K-Q) and Yu (9-8) to take the hand. With those chips, Marshall improved to 143,000 in chips, knocked Murray down to only 51K and sent Yu out of the tournament.

While Marshall was cruising to the end of day chip lead, others would have to take their chances (perhaps) on Saturday. Liebert, Engel, Curt Kohlberg and WPT DeepStacks Player of the Year Rex Clinkscales all were eliminated on Friday and have the option of returning on Saturday. One player who won’t be returning on Saturday is Marshall, who powered his way to the chip lead by the time the final hand was dealt on Friday.

1. Sean Marshall, 142,100
2. Eddy Sabat, 140,400
3. Matt Salsberg, 139,200
4. Ping Liu, 130,100
5. Jesse Rockowitz, 126,200
6. Joseph Alban, 122,000
7. Glenn Larson, 100,100
8. Jared Greiner, 93,900
9. Brian Green, 89,600
10. Gauran Raina, 88,000

Of the 132 entries received on Day 1A, 71 players came through the carnage. This number is expected to increase tremendously on Saturday as the newly redesigned Thunder Valley poker room can handle a large throng of players. According to WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage, the Thunder Valley poker room “could host 1000 players” and he would like to see this event crack its record of 465 from Season XII. That would mean that another 333 entries would have to come out between now and the start of Day 2 on Sunday, a number that isn’t out of the realm of possibilities for the 2018 WPT Rolling Thunder.

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