It was a long Day 1A at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star Monday, as those who made it all the way through had to slog through eleven 60-minute levels. With two hours for dinner and short breaks, that’s thirteen hours centered around poker, not counting however early the players got to the casino. It was a pretty solid turnout for the first starting flight, as 331 players ponied up the $7,500; 125 made it to Day 2. Ankush Mandavia is out in front of the pack with 263,700 chips, though he is closely followed by Rep Porter with 249,600, Brian Yoon with 222,500, and Connor Drinan with 222,000.
The Bay 101 Shooting Star is one of the most popular live tournaments on any circuit every year. A number of poker pros and poker celebrities are tagged as “Shooting Stars”; each wears a star medal around their necks during the tournament, just in case other players don’t recognize them. Anyone who knocks out one of the Shooting Stars receives a $2,500 cash bounty and an autographed t-shirt from the player. Though it is never fun to be eliminated from a tournament, the Shooting Stars are typically very good natured about it all, as they understand going into the event that it is a different animal than the normal tournaments they play in most days. Even though money is at stake, the Shooting Star bounty is meant to be all in good fun, especially since the eliminated star has to hand over a t-shirt with his or her name on it as a trophy. The Shooting Stars usually pose for pictures with their conqueror, as well.
As an example of how the Shooting Stars are generally good sports, Nick Palma felted Jake Bazeley and tweeted a picture of his autographed shirt, which read, “You aren’t as BAD as they say!”
Palma called Bazeley a “class act.”
As an additional bonus, the chip leader at the end of each starting flight wins $10,000. So, going into Day 2, Ankush Mandavia is already freerolling.
The Shooting Stars for Day 1A were:
Mike Sexton, Erik Seidel, Darren Elias, Tyler Patterson, Fedor Holz, Maria Ho, JC Tran, Matt Salsberg, Mukul Pahuja, Aaron Massey, Mike Matusow, Noah Schwartz, Todd Brunson, Loni Harwood, Neil Blumenfield, Dan Shak, Connor Drinan, Faraz Jaka, Mohsin Charania, Ryan Riess, Anthony Zinno, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Jake Bazeley, Jason Mercier, and Greg Merson.
Day 1B will begin at 11:00am PT as another crop of players and Shooting Stars try to advance toward a WPT title. This is a re-entry event, so anyone who was eliminated on Day 1A can pay another buy-in to try again on Tuesday. The schedule will be the same as it was Monday: eleven 60-minute levels, four 15-minute breaks, and one hour-long dinner break.
2016 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Ankush Mandavia – 263,700
2. Rep Porter – 249,600
3. Brian Yoon – 222,500
4. Connor Drinan – 222,000
5. Chance Kornuth – 194,500
6. Johnny Oshana – 176,800
7. David Malka – 169,100
8. Nader Zarel – 169,100
9. Justin Liberto – 164,800
10. Randy Gil – 159,500
