After Day 2 of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament in San Jose, California, a total of 36 players and four bounties remain. The tournament saw a total of 391 entrants, including 50 Shooting Stars, take to the field in total. On Friday, another WPT self-made millionaire will be crowned.
Pacing the field entering play on Thursday is Michael Kamran. The native of Los Angeles was the runner up in a $300 rebuy preliminary event held during the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, banking a healthy $77,000. That tournament was won by online poker pro Jake “MuffinBall” Solis, who pocketed $140,000. In October, Kamran logged another runner up finish, this time in the Caesars Palace Classic, to Team PokerStars Pro member Hevad Khan; the second place showing was worth $520,000. He took 16th in a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event held during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $22,000. Kamran holds 570,500 chips, just edging out Tony Behari and Chris Moore, who hold 548,000 and 539,500, respectively.
Four Shooting Stars remain in the field, each with a $5,000 bounty on their heads. Kathy Liebert leads the group in seventh place with 385,000 chips. The bracelet holder finished third in the WSOP World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em in 2008 for $306,000. Paul Wasicka, who finished as the runner up to ACED Poker pro Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, sits in 11th place at the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament with 297,000, about 80,000 more than the chip average. Doyle’s Room pro Hoyt Corkins, who at one point held less than three big blinds, has the 25th largest stack, 124,500. Corkins quadrupled up to 34,000 and then quickly doubled up with A-7 against Luis Velador’s A-5. The final bounty remaining is Joe Sebok, who has 116,500, the 29th largest stack.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks entering play on Thursday, which will see the field pare down to its final six:
1st: Michael Kamran – 570,500
2nd: Tony Behari – 548,000
3rd: Chris Moore – 539,500
4th: Daniel Obrien – 478,000
5th: John Monnette – 459,000
6th: Tyler Cornell – 425,000
7th: Kathy Liebert – 405,000
8th: Chau Vu – 315,500
9th: Steve Dempsey – 302,500
10th: Paul Wasicka – 297,000
Monnette busted two Shooting Stars on the same hand, sending Freddy Deeb and Brandon Cantu home. Monnette held A-Q against pocket tens and pocket fours, but was behind until he flopped a pair of aces. Monnette told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded, “Freddy was really short and moved all-in, a standard play from late position. I had A-Q in the cutoff and just called. Brandon was on the button and moved all-in, which usually means you have a pretty big hand. Normally, I wouldn’t like A-Q there, but it wasn’t that much more to call.” The hand was worth $10,000 in real money and he sits with more than double the average stack entering play on Thursday. He has a tough table draw on Day 3, as he’ll be flanked by Kamran, Wasicka, and online poker pro Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.
When play wrapped up for the day last night, blinds were 1,500-3,000 with a 500 chip ante. First place will take home $1.02 million. Second place grabs a $550,000 consolation prize. Third place in the $10,000 buy-in bounty event is $291,000. The fourth, fifth, and sixth place finishers will see their bank accounts grow by $230,000, $180,000, and $135,000, respectively. Each player remaining in the field is guaranteed to take home at least $15,000 for their efforts.
Play kicks off at Noon Pacific Time today and will contiue until six remain. The final table members will return to play in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras on Friday at 4:00pm. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament.
