The World Poker Tour’s stop at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, CA, for the 2013 Legends of Poker wrapped up their second Day One on Friday, expanding the field by another 200 entries to bring the total field within shot of last year’s final numbers.
The $3700 ($200 juice) tournament brought back many players on Friday who had taken their first shot on Thursday only to come up a bit short. Phil Laak, Dan O’Brien, Will Failla, Faraz Jaka, Jeff Madsen and Athanasios Polychronopoulos were just a few of the notables who took advantage of the re-entry nature of the tournament (players who bust on the Day One they enter or aren’t happy with their chip stack are eligible to re-enter on another Day One). They were joined by some new faces in the crowd that included Ali Eslami, Kenna James, former Legends champion Prahlad Friedman, Ray Qartomy (fresh off his deep run at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open) and Greg Mueller (among others) as they all prepared to take their stab at one of the venerable tournaments on the WPT calendar.
The theme of the day seemed to be that “pocket Aces are no good.” Eslami was an early victim of this phenomenon as his Aces were cracked when an opponent hit a set (Eslami has already stated he will be back on Saturday for Day 1C), while Andrew Song doubled up an opponent when his Aces were cracked by pocket Kings. This wouldn’t be the last time this would happen as the action moved onward.
One of the players who had busted on Day 1A, Kyle Julius, made the most of his second bullet on Friday. Going to the flop with Amnon Filippi and Taylor Paur, the trio saw what looked to be an innocent 9-4-3 flop. Paur checked his option and Julius fired out a bet, which forced Filippi from the hand. Paur made the call and a six came on the turn. Paur would check-call another bet out of Julius and a second six hit the river. Paur would once again check-call but would almost as quickly muck his cards when Julius showed a 5-2 for the turned straight to take the pot. By the end of Friday’s action, Julius had built a noteworthy stack of 142K to take to Day 2.
An oddity on the felt was the presence of Christina Lindley for the Day 1B proceedings. Sitting with over 100K from her work on Day 1A, many would think that a player would like to take the time off to prepare for Day 2. Instead of doing that, Lindley was back grinding away on the tables, looking to finish with more chips than her Thursday total (if a player has multiple Day One finishes, only their largest stack will move on). The experiment proved to be futile for Lindley, however, as she would not make it through the Day 1B field (no clue yet as to whether she plans another shot on Saturday).
As late registration ended for Day 1B, another 199 entries were received for the tournament, pushing the total field up to 341 for the first two Day Ones. With the final Day One set to go this afternoon, the prize pool currently is sitting at $1,193,500 and, with a flood of players that normally make their way to the tables on the concluding Day One, has a shot at breaking last year’s entry mark of 622. If that occurs, the prize pool for the tournament would crack the $2 million mark.
For many of those who came out on Friday, their efforts wouldn’t be rewarded. David ‘Doc’ Sands (who spent some time with wife Erika and her family before entering late), Mimi Tran, Shane Schleger, Scotty Nguyen, Matt Waxman, Freddy Deeb (second bullet), Lindley, Polychronopoulos and Friedman would all drop before the end of Day 1B play. Mohsin Charania (also on his second bullet) would keep the “Ace cracking” streak continuing, Tweeting twice about taking down “American Airlines” with less-than optimal holdings (the first time with a 10-3, the second with 7-3). However, it was an unfamiliar name to the poker world that stayed under the radar for the entire day who would walk off Friday with the Day 1B chip lead:
1. Christopher Richter, 176,500
2. Parvis Sayyad, 175,400
3. Amir Wahab, 172,700
4. Francis Rusnak, 168,800
5. Faraz Jaka, 152,000
6. Jon Cohen, 146,200
7. Kyle Julius, 142,700
8. Raymond Davis, 131,600
9. John Gordon, 126,500
10. Michael Lipman, 120,000
Combining the Day 1A and 1B leaderboards, the overall Top Ten looks like this:
1. Barry Hutter, 212,400*
2. Nick Phoenix, 207,700*
3. Joseph Cheong, 188,100*
4. Christopher Richter, 176,500
5. Parvis Sayyad, 175,400
6. Amir Wahab, 172,700
7. Francis Rusnak, 168,800
8. Faraz Jaka, 152,000
9. Eddy Sabat, 150,900*
10. Joe Serock, 147,500*
* – Day 1A players
It should be a hectic day around the Bike as Day 1C kicks off play at 1PM (Pacific Time). A host of top players including Paul Volpe, David Chiu, Gavin Griffin, Sands, Mueller and many others are still looking for their ticket through to Day 2. With the number of notables that haven’t yet seized their seat, Saturday’s entry list could conceivably reach the 300 mark.
