The final of the three starting flights of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event went down on Sunday, as 383 more entries were paid for, bringing the total Day 1 field to 715. Keep in mind that that number doesn’t mean 715 “players,” as this is a re-entry tournament. Thus, “entries” means “paid entries.” The chip leader for Day 1C – who also became the overall chip leader of the tournament – was Cody Slaubaugh with 310,500 chips.
“I chipped up early,” Slaubaugh told WPT.com afterward. “I got a double in the second level and ran pretty hot from there on out. I had a big hand, top two versus bottom two versus an open-ended draw for like a 100K pot early and that got me going. That put me up at like 120 or 130K. Then I just won some small pots and won a big flip for like 60K in Level 7 with jacks versus ace-king.”
Slaubaugh has $1.3 million in live tournament earnings, according to TheHendonMob.com. His biggest cash came almost a decade ago, when he finished second in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2008 World Series of Poker for $389,128. Slaubaugh has three cashes on the World Poker Tour.
Slaubaugh also has $1.6 million recorded online poker tournament winnings, according to PocketFives.com.
The live coverage of any poker tournament – whether you’re talking online or on television – features non-poker celebrities whenever possible. There’s almost always video of Ray Romano and Brad Garrett on ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker. PokerStars has been hyping up Kevin Hart incessantly. I will admit, though, even though I usually know who the celebrity is, even if it’s just a situation where I’ve only “heard of” the name of some model, I have never heard of the person who is all over WPT.com’s coverage of the WPT Legends of Poker: GACKT.
Now, when I first read that name, I thought it was an awfully odd spelling of the ubiquitous Nickelodeon slime. GACKT, though, is a Japanese musician, singer, and songwriter. He has a pretty impressive list of credentials, including holding the record for the most consecutive top ten singles for a male soloist in Japanese music history. While I would assume not more than a handful of players at the Legends of Poker have any idea who he is, GACKT (whose real name is Kamui Gakuto), isn’t a total poker noob. He has $93,000 in live tournament earnings, most of which came from a fourth place finish at the ARIA High Roller 65 in July.
Though all three starting flights have wrapped up, the total prize pool, and therefore the prize breakdown, will not be known until after play begins on Monday’s Day 2. Players can still register up until the cards get in the air Monday; shortly thereafter, the prize money will be posted.
2017 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Day 1C Chip Leaders
1. Cody Slaubaugh – 310,500
2. Mel Wiener – 307,100
3. Benjamin Nguyen – 245,100
4. Men Nguyen – 185,000
5. Zachary Smiley – 176,900
6. James Carroll – 176,200
7. Shankar Pillai – 173,500
8. Kristina Holst – 162,200
9. Oddie Dardon – 160,000
10. Jim Mangiamele – 159,300
Featured photo credit: World Poker Tour via Flickr.
