No more separate flights at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event, as Monday was Day 2, when the survivors of each of the three Day 1’s came together in a single, unified field to try to make their way toward their poker dreams. Oddie Dardon is the chip leader going into Day 2 with 775,000 chips.
Dardon finished Day 1C with 160,000 chips, good for ninth-best of that flight and placing him squarely among the overall chip leaders heading into Day 2. One of the hands that really put him in position to make a run came in Level 15. According to the WPT.com report, Day 1C chip leader Cody Slaubaugh raised pre-flop to 7,000 chips, Will Kassouf called, Dardon called, Mel Wiener called from the small blind, and the button also called. Action! On the 9-T-J (two hearts) flop, the action checked to Kassouf, who bet 25,000. Dardon raised to 55,000 and then Wiener moved all-in for 180,000. Everybody folded back to Dardon, who snap-called.
It was no mystery why Dardon was so eager to make the call, as he had K-Q for the nut straight. Wiener’s hand was almost as good – Q-8 for the second-best possible straight, given the cards on the board. Great luck turned into terrible luck. The turn and river changed nothing and Wiener was eliminated from the tournament. Dardon was already the chip leader at that point, increasing his stack up to 860,000.
Dardon, whose real first name is Osmin, has more than $2.3 million live tournament earnings, according to TheHendonMob.com. His best cash was for just over half a million dollars for a third place finish at the 2008 World Poker Tour Championship. He has had some success recently, winning a $1,100 event at the Deepstack Extravaganza III in July for $311,664 and finishing tenth at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open just a couple weeks ago.
Another 48 players registered for this tournament before Day 2 began, so the final tally is 763 entries. The total prize pool is approximately $2.74 million with the winner receiving $653,692 and a seat in the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions. The tournament will pay down to 81 players; min-cash is $7,135.
As there are just 90 players left and therefore the tournament is one table away from the money, the Action Clock will be put into action. All players will have 30 seconds to act, timed by a large digital clock set into the table in front of and controlled by the dealer. Players are given four time extension chips that grant them an additional 30 seconds each. When the tournament is down to three tables, all remaining players will have their time extension chip stack reset to six and when the final table is reached, the players will have stacks of eight time extension chips. The base time to act remains the same at 30 seconds.
2017 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Oddie Dardon – 775,000
2. J.C. Tran – 565,000
3. Hovhannes Khachatryan – 530,000
4. D.J. Alexander – 517,500
5. David “ODB” Baker – 479,000
6. Alex Greenblatt – 461,500
7. Marcos Exterkotter – 447,000
8. Nikhil Gera – 447,000
9. Curt Kohlberg – 445,000
10. Mark Hamilton – 435,000
Featured photo credit: World Poker Tour via Flickr
