The first tournament on American soil for the World Poker Tour’s Season XI schedule is now in the books with Anthony Gregg walking off with the championship of the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic in Bensalem, PA.
The 500 entry field had been worked down to the final six by Wednesday and saw Stephen Reynolds holding approximately a 400K chip lead over Gregg. He himself only had a 500K chip gap back to Chris Lee, while Chris Vandeursen, Andre Nyffeler and Larry Sharp were on the bottom of the ladder when the cards went in the air Wednesday afternoon.
In the early going, a move that has become popular in tournament poker was in use by everyone on the table. The min-raise – or only doubling the big blind – was put into use by the entirety of the table and with some success as players didn’t want to mix it up in the early going. The move was so effective it would take well over forty hands before the first elimination occurred.
On the short stack, Nyffeler found a hand and deviated from the min-raise to put his entire stack at stake. Sharp, one of the other short stacks on the table (but with more than Nyffeler) made the call and turned up Big Slick against Nyffeler’s pocket tens. There was no drama to be had as the flop brought a King in the window; once neither of Nyffeler’s two outs came on the turn or river, Andre Nyffeler was out of the tournament in sixth place.
Following Nyffeler’s elimination, Reynolds and Gregg began to separate themselves a bit from the field. Over the next sixty hands, the twosome would break away from the pack, only to be joined by Lee when he eliminated Vandeursen in fifth place when his A-K stayed ahead of Vandeursen’s A-6 suited. Down to four players, Reynolds’ lead was more than a million chips over Gregg, Lee was only 500K behind Gregg and Sharp was looking for a double.
Sharp would never find that double, going out ten hands after the departure of Vandeursen. After a raise from Reynolds and a call from Gregg, Sharp put the squeeze on with an all-in from the big blind. Reynolds was not dismayed, however, as he pushed his leading stack to the center and Gregg dropped from the hunt. Sharp was ahead with his A♦ J♦ against Reynolds’ K♥ Q♥ and the flop cooperated initially for Sharp, coming down A♥ J♣ 9♣. A 7♥ on the turn opened some doors to the flush for Reynolds, which came home on the 4♥. After flopping two pair, Larry Sharp found himself on the cruel end of a runner-runner flush and out of the tournament in fourth place.
Now three handed, it was Lee that was on the short stack against Reynolds and Gregg and he tried to fight the good fight, to no avail. 18 hands after Sharp’s tough beat, Lee would find his chips in the center against Reynolds and way behind, his A-J trumped by Reynolds’ A-Q. A Queen on the flop virtually assured the hand to Reynolds and, once the turn blanked, Chris Lee was drawing dead and out of the event in third place.
Down to heads up, Reynolds held over a four million chip lead, but it would be the start of what would prove to be a memorable heads up battle. Over forty hands, the chip stacks didn’t vary much as both players warily jousted with their opponent but, on Hand 173, Reynolds seemed to seize control when he took a pot worth more than five million chips. After that hand, Reynolds had moved out to a 2:1 lead over Gregg.
Gregg was resilient, however, chipping away at Reynolds until Reynolds picked up another big pot to push his lead to nearly 4:1. He would maintain this lead as the players passed the 200 hand mark, but the tide was about to change in the event.
On Hand 202, Gregg doubled up through Reynolds when his pocket nines held up over Reynolds’ A-5 and, six hands later, Gregg would slide into the lead. The very next hand, however, Reynolds would retake the lead, but Gregg fought right back himself, taking back a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish four hands later.
On the final hand of the night, Gregg limped into the hand only to have Reynolds push his stack to the center. After some deliberation, Gregg made the call and tabled his K-9 off suit, slightly behind Reynolds’ A-4 off suit. The flop changed the fortunes of the players, coming down K-Q-7 to push Gregg to the lead. After the board paired with another Queen, Reynolds was left looking for one of the three Aces in the deck. When a ten came on the river, the tournament was over and Anthony Gregg became the inaugural champion of the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic.
1. Anthony Gregg, $416,127
2. Stephen Reynolds, $244,877
3. Chris Lee, $158,450
4. Larry Sharp, $108,034
5. Chris Vandeursen, $76,824
6. Andre Nyffeler, $61,619
With the Parx Casino now in its rear-view mirror, the WPT will head back to one of its more familiar stomping grounds. The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles will play host to the Legends of Poker beginning next Friday and is one of only four tournaments that has been a part of the WPT schedule in its 11-year history (the others are the L. A. Poker Classic and, of course, the WPT Championship and the Five Diamond at the Bellagio). The $3700 buy in event ($200 juice) promises to be another exciting tournament as the best in poker usually are in attendance at the event. For now, however, Anthony Gregg has the bragging rights as the latest champion of the World Poker Tour.
