It was carnage on Monday as the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event was narrowed from 151 players* to just 18. The money bubble clearly burst – the top 45 players were paid – and Taylor Paur emerged as the top dog with 1,400,000 chips.
If Paur can keep this going, he would add to an unprecedented trend of players winning back-to-back World Poker Tour titles. Darren Elias did it earlier in WPT Season XIII, winning the WPT Borgata Poker Open and the WPT Caribbean. Anthony Zinno just pulled off the feat, winning the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic and then the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. It was nuts enough when Elias did it, as he became the first player to ever win consecutive titles in a single WPT season, so having a third player do it this season would have been beyond the scope of our imagination, if it weren’t so close to happening right now.
It won’t be an easy task, obviously, as though he needs to fend off just 17 players, he is not an overwhelming chip leader at this point. Two players – Phillip Hui and Ravee Mathi Sundar – both have over a million and two more players are not far off that plateau. There is certainly a ways to go in this tourney.
By making it this far, Taylor Paur has already clinched the WPT California Swing title. The California Swing is comprised of the past three WPT events, all in the Golden State: 2015 WPT L.A. Poker Classic, 2015 Bay 101 Shooting Star, and the current 2015 WPT Rolling Thunder. Players receive five points for participating in an event and then receive additional points based on where they finish in the money. Going into today, Mike Leah was the points leader, but because he didn’t make it to Day 2, he only got his five base points, allowing him to conclude the California Swing with 193 points. Paur was next with 174 points and by virtue of now being guaranteed at least an 18th place finish, he will bank at least another 75 points (not sure if his five base points are included in his earlier total). He was not the only one amongst the California Swing leaders who made it to Day 3, but the way the math works out, nobody else can catch him now.
Taylor Paur has won the following prize package:
• Six nights accommodation at the Crowne Plaza, airport transfer, and a massage at the Meridian Spa during the 2016 WPT L.A. Poker Classic
• Hotel accommodations and Shooting Star status at the 2016 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star
• Suite accommodations and a $500 room credit during the 2016 WPT Rolling Thunder
Day 3 will begin at noon Pacific as the field is trimmed from 18 to the six-handed final table.
2015 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Taylor Paur – 1,400,000
2. Phillip Hui – 1,067,000
3. Ravee Mathi Sundar – 1,058,000
4. Joe Kuether – 978,000
5. Jeff Griffiths – 958,000
6. Rex Clinkscales – 807,000
7. Sakat Batra – 715,000
8. Raymond Dandrea – 582,000
9. Harrison Gimbel – 557,000
10. JJ Liu – 533,000
11. Jesse Rockowitz – 475,000
*We reported the Day 2 field as 152 yesterday, but one player apparently made it through both starting flights.
