The Commerce Casino is hosting a poker tournament, with nearly 700 players, that is proof poker is alive and well.  In a power-poker-packed field the notable names atop the leaderboard have been toppled and the unlikely Kofi Farkye now leads.  Daniel Negreanu was the chipleader after day one.

Unfortunately, for Danny Boy his time atop the mountain was short lived.  The pack reeled him in and he slowly bled off chips until he made trips which were second best to a Broadway straight.  Antonio Esfandiari, another TV face, took over the chip lead.  He also didn’t make it to the money.

Now Kofi Farkye and a leaderboard of random names awaits the WPT.  For those looking to see Antonio and Daniel on TV they need only wait until the return of high-stakes poker.  In fact, in a preview for the show, both players watch Phil Laak get hero called by Patrick Anotnius for a HUGE pot.  Patrick called with a pair of fours despite the King and Queen on the board.  Phil had AJ and endured the painful call.

Also, watching the hand, with a little interest was Tom Dwan.  Dwan must have been happy to see Antonius making some money, although he’d probably prefer the big guy wasn’t playing so well.  Their heads-up battle has started and after some wild swings in 4,000 hands of play Dwan is now up $150,000.  Antonius fell behind early, by as much as $170,000, came steamrolling back in their second day of action and took the lead.  

When day three was over it was Dwan who was riding high.  With 46,000 hands to play this all just a warm-up.  Observers have noted the truly interesting thing about the challenge is what happens if one player gets so far ahead early on, the losing player is forced to ask for some consideration and an early termination of the bet.