The third Dream Team Poker event, held down the hall from the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), attracted 366 runners for a total prize pool of $177,000. Roberto Diaz from Team Reckless leads the way entering Day 2, when 27 players will take to the felts.
The field that turned out for the Dream Team Poker’s second open event was actually smaller than its last outing, which took place at Caesars Palace in March. Across Interstate 15, a total of 148 teams and 444 players turned out four months ago. This time around, 122 teams and 366 players entered, a drop of 17%. Nevertheless, play was fast and furious, as 27 players representing 26 teams survived the first day and will return on Monday to determine a champion. Tao of Pokerati is the lone squad to boast two players remaining.
The top overall team will earn $33,017. The runner-ups will take home $18,106, third place will pocket $10,651, fourth place will earn $7,988, fifth place will bank $7,455, sixth place will receive $6,923, the seventh place team will see their bank accounts grow by $6,390, eighth place will pocket $5,858, ninth place will earn $5,325, and tenth place leaves the Rio with $4,793 from the $560 per person buy-in event. The field of 366 players included 59 women and three all-female teams: Kegslist.info (lead by Lacey Jones), Tush Pushers (lead by Pam Brunson), and Wicked Chops Poker II (Lead by London Gallagher).
Here’s how the field stacks up entering Day 2 of the Dream Team Poker tournament:
1. Roberto Diaz (Team Reckless) – 332,000
2. Jordan Hill (Team Winner Winner Chicken Dinner) – 252,000
3. Ricardo Felix Matos (Machine Team) – 235,000
4. Matthew Woodward (Team 2 Kings) – 220,000
5. Peter Marvo (Team Min Cash Masters) – 193,000
6. Adam Wege (Team NLP FREE) – 177,000
7. Peter Lubrano (Team The Maven VT 2) – 165,000
8. Paul McGuire (Team Tao of Pokerati) – 158,000
9. Kenna James (Team Poker Host) – 140,000
10. Bryan Kessler (Team Those Guys) – 133,000
11. Terresa Gallagher (Team Wicked Chops Poker II) – 125,000
12. James Page (Team The Maven VT 3) – 124,000
13. Daniel Michalski (Team Tao of Pokerati) – 113,000
14. Bojan Miljkovic (Team Juzni Vetar) – 100,000
15. Glyn Ottofy (Team Poker) – 95,000
16. Brad Tolliver (Team Donkey Show) – 87,000
17. Andrew Colas (Team Poker Blazers) – 82,000
18. Maximilian Gsottschneider (Team Puerto Rico) – 81,000
19. Michael Shackelford (Team Sinistrals) – 79,000
20. Mary Jo Zogman (Team Team HTP) – 60,000
21. Omar Vachhani (Team Diabolocos) – 46,000
22. John Sayre (Team Home Gamers) – 40,000
23. Michelle Richey (Team Simpletrak) – 37,000
24. Antonio Ferreira (Team BOSS) – 37,000
25. David Hornsby (Team The Hangover) – Unknown
26. Judy Tejwani (Team SOCRR) – Unknown
27. Stephen Nelson (Team I Love it When a Plan Comes Together) – Unknown
Notable poker pros who entered the event, but did not survive to see Day 2, included Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, Evelyn Ng, David Williams, Barry Greenstein, Gavin Smith, Liz Lieu, Jerry Yang, Marsha Waggoner, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, Susie Isaacs, Tom McEvoy, “Captain” Tom Franklin, T.J. Cloutier, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, and Amir Vahedi. Also taking to the felts was former Major League Baseball star Jose Canseco, whose book “Juiced” ignited the crackdown on steroids in the game.
The tournament’s individual winner will earn $16,473 and the top 19 spots pay out. In order to curb collusion, Dream Team Poker events award prize money to the top players and teams. In addition, no team members are seated at the same table until 14 to 16 runners remain. No indication has been given as to when Dream Team Poker will hold its fourth event.
