Day 2 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event was the first in which the entire field was playing together at the same time. 223 players came out of the three Day 1’s, but only one of the three chips leaders from the starting flights – Tyler Cornell – made it through to Day 3. He is in great shape, sitting in third place with 622,000 chips, but that is still a far cry from Chris Tolone, who leads all players with 1,003,000 chips.
As the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event is a Quantum Reload tournament, it was not until part way through Day 2 that the final registration tally was known. 566 players paid $3,700 to play in Days 1A, 1B, and 1C, but the Quantum Reload allowed for players who bombed out or otherwise did not play in any of the starting flights to buy-in directly to Day 2 for $10,000. According to the report from WPT.com, 27 players took advantage of this option, increasing the total field to 593 and the total Day 2 players to 250. Some of the players who paid the $10,000 were Phil Laak, NFL defensive lineman Richard Seymour, Greg Mueller, and Layne Flack. They started with 60 big blinds, or 72,000 chips, just below the average of about 75,700 chips (when counting the 27 Day 2 direct buy-ins).
Chris Tolone, the chip leader going into Day 3, has never won a live poker tournament and has never cashed in a major tournament. All told, he has won $109,650 on the live tournament circuit, so should he maintain the top spot and win this tournament, it would be his largest cash by far.
With just 67 players left, Tolone is already close to the money, as the tournament will pay down to 54 places. The min cash will be $8,630, while first place will receive $576,369. The top five finishers will score six-figure paydays.
As happens fairly frequently in tournaments, the chip leader made it to the top at the end of the night. Tolone and Day 1B chip leader, Nick Grippo, got into a raising war pre-flop until they were both all-in. Grippo showed two black Kings, dominating Tolone’s Queens. Tolone was able to flop a Queen to make a set and take the lead, but a diamond on the turn put four diamonds on the board, giving Grippo a shot at a chopped pot if a fifth diamond showed up on the river. Not only did that not happen, but the river produced the last Queen, giving Tolone quads. Grippo was out and Tolone jumped up into the chip lead.
Day 3 begins Wednesday at 1:00pm Pacific time and will conclude when the field is down to just 18 players.
2014 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Chris Tolone – 1,003,000
2. Richard Munro – 756,000
3. Tyler Cornell – 622,000
4. Amit Makhija – 607,000
5. Owen Crowe – 605,000
6. Taylor McFarland – 605,000
7. Kyle Welsh – 603,000
8. Jeremy Kottler – 568,000
9. Freddy Deeb – 562,000
10. Anthony Tao – 555,000
