To cap off their festivities for 2013, the World Poker Tour has stepped out of the United States for two tournaments on completely different continents. One of those tournaments has wrapped up its first day of play while the second is in the middle of action as we speak.
The inaugural WPT Korea, taking place at the Ramada Plaza Jeju in South Korea, is actually the third time that the WPT has set foot on the Asian continent. The two previous stops were not a part of the recognized WPT “season” (they were National events) and were in China, making the WPT Korea the first time that an Asian country has hosted a tournament on the WPT’s main circuit. WPT officials haven’t stated what type of numbers they are expecting to make the WPT Korea a “success,” but the Day 1A field (and a High Rollers side event) had to make them happy.
With registration going throughout the day’s play (as well as a High Rollers event), the WPT Korea was able to draw in a cozy 50 players for its Day 1A action on Sunday. Not to be unexpected, a major part of that field was local players stepping into the tournament poker world battles, but there were a few familiar faces around the room. Taking part in the High Roller tournament was John Juanda (it is figured he will be in on the action on Monday), while WPT Caribbean champion Tony Dunst and Raymond Chow entered the fray in the WPT Korea Main Event. Neither Dunst nor Chow was able to make it to the final 26 players who survived Day 1A, but they are expected to come back on Monday.
After the Day 1A action, the WPT Korea leaderboard looks like this:
1. Alex Lou, 125,000
2. Mesato Shimizu, 91,300
3. Liu Peng Cheng, 88,100
4. Zhao Yahui, 77,800
5. Zhang Yi Lei, 76,000
6. Li Yin, 74,300
7. Cao Yi, 69,900
8. Kong Yue, 69,200
9. Muto Katsuhiro, 66,700
10. Zhou Quan, 66,000
Over 5000 miles away (5337, to be exact), the WPT began their second tournament on a completely different continent. Prague, the Czech Republic, and the Card Casino in the historic and picturesque city provide the backdrop for the latest foray by the WPT into Europe. They are currently in the midst of their Day 1A action and several top pros have made an appearance to try to get one more score before taking a break for the holidays.
The WPT Prague is in its third year now with two notable professionals having taken the championship each year. In 2011, Andrey Pateychuk won the inaugural WPT Prague while Marcin Wydrowski prevailed in last year’s tournament. Both of those events drew quite well (571 and 567 players, respectively), so it is expected that the WPT Prague may be the “last big chance” to score for players in 2013.
Coming up on the dinner break in Prague, it appears that Vasili Firsau and Andrey Vlasenko are at the helm of the 38 players (remember, the European Poker Tour’s stop in Prague is in action as well right now) that have registered to this point, with each holding 100,000 in chips. Saar Wilf (71K), Micah Raskin (56K), Petr Jelinek (50K) and Kara Scott (40K) are all above the average chip count, while players such as Anaras Alekberovas and Marvin Rettenmaier have just entered into the event. Seth Berger, Simon Ravnbaek and Bartolome Gomila Romero have already exited the Day 1A battle, but have the opportunity to be a part of the Day 1B action through re-entry.
The WPT Korea will wrap up action on Thursday, while the WPT Prague final table will take place two days later. These will be the final events on the 2013 calendar year schedule for the WPT, which won’t return to action until late January at the Borgata in Atlantic City.
