This Friday, August 20th, marks the start of the Main Event of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker at the famed Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California. The $5,000 ($4,800 + $200) No-Limit Hold’em Championship is slated to run through August 25th, with Day 1 split into two flights.
This is the first year since 2005 that the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event buy-in will be less than $10,000, a change that needed to be made to boost attendance at WPT events. At 279 players, last year’s Legends of Poker field was 25% smaller than in 2008. Despite the precipitous drop, though, first place still paid just over $1 million and the top five finishers all made at least six-figures.
Poker pro Prahlad Friedman won the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker, besting 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine member Kevin Schaffel heads-up. All things considered, it was not that long of a final table, lasting just 127 hands (keep in mind that WPT final tables are six-handed). Friedman was the third largest stack going into final table play, in fairly comfortable shape with 1,476,000 chips. He sat behind Schaffel and Todd Terry, who were in a virtual dead heat with 2,234,000 chips and 2,219,000 chips, respectively.
But Friedman knocked out Mike Krescanko, Toto Leonidas, and Terry over the course of final table to enter the heads-up portion of the competition with a sizeable 7:2 chip advantage. Schaffel battled his way back to even, but Friedman eventually ruled the day, eliminating Schaffel with A-Q versus K-J. For his runner-up finish, Schaffel won $471,670.
The WPT Legends of Poker is more than just the No-Limit Championship. There have already been 22 preliminary events with buy-ins ranging from $225 to $545. Most events have featured No-Limit Hold’em, but there have also been Limit Hold’em, HORSE, Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or better, Limit Omaha 8 or better, half Stud half Omaha Hi-Lo, and Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo tournaments in Shootout, Deepstack, and Re-entry formats. After the Main Event, there will be three more events before the entire poker festival wraps up on August 29th.
For those in the Los Angeles area, there will be satellites held on Wednesday and Thursday at the “Bike” for the No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Super Satellites will cost $120 to enter, while Mega Super Satellites will run $535. Players must register in person, as online registration is now closed.