The WPT returned to the Bicycle Casino in California for their latest WPT event: The Legends of Poker. They were flush with their new girl team “The Royal Flush Girls,” enjoyed the return of the returning Kimberly Lansing to California, and had a field big enough to sustain multiple day ones. Day 1A of the 5k buy-in Texas Holdem poker tournament had a lot of big names as per usual with the WPT.
There were 186 entrants in the poker tournament and less than half the field survived the six levels to return to day two. The overwhelming chipleader was Manuel Reyes, who was the sole player, to have more than 200k. Raymond Dolan, not to be confused with November Niner John Dolan, was second in the day with 165.5k. Dolan is the younger brother of Tim Phan.
Phan also made the top ten in chips. Phan finished seventh on the day with 110.7k. Both brothers have final table WPT events and were hoping for their luck to hold out just a little longer than a good day one start. WPT winners Barry Greenstein and McLean Karr each finished over 100k. Karr in 8th with 107.2k and Greenstein in 9th with 100.675k.
The top 10:
1. Manuel Reyes – 205,350
2. Raymond Dolan – 165,500
3. Max Casal – 138,500
4. Ken Michelman – 125,200
5. Franco Brunetti – 124,575
6. Mike Baxter – 117,700
7. Tim Phan – 110,700
8. McLean Karr – 107,200
9. Barry Greenstein – 100,675
10. Craig Bergeron – 95,400
Kathy Liebert was also recognized on the day for playing in her 100th WPT event. Liebert has 1.727 million in career cashes. Even though this event was for 5k most of the WPT tournaments were 10k so she’s profiting about 750k from the WPT. Not too shabby. She is only the second player to be recognized for playing 100 WPT events. Erik Seidel was the first, a month ago.
The Bike was the site of Liebert’s first WPT tournament and final table (1 for 1 is not a bad way to start a career). In the second tournament of the WPT’s circuit, in its first year, Liebert came in sixth in the Legneds of Poker event years ago. Liebert has six WPT final tables in her career. She is sixth in terms of career final tables but only 49th in all-time earnings with 15 WPT cashes. That’s a pretty good return too, six out of 15 cashes turned into final tables for Liebert. It’s a good year for Liebert in terms of recognition, something she recently bemoaned a lack of, as she will also be entering the Woman’s Poker Hall of Fame in September.
Day1B had Jonathan Little as an early chip-leader but the youngster from the Gulf Coast got pulled back to the pack. Vinny Vinh finished the day in the number 1 slot with 180k. Justin Young was second with 138k. Joe Seebok joined his father, Barry Greenstein over the 100k mark with 109k. Shane Schleger and Allen Cunningham also ended close to the 100k mark.
The 276 players who entered on day 1B was substantially larger than the masses on day 1. So perhaps, counter-intuitively it was surprising that the overall chipleader and most of the biggest stacks were 1As. Phil Hellmuth made two late entrances, one to start the tournament, and one after dinner. The second bit of tardiness, a 90 minute extra dinner sojourn, whittled his stack down much further than the first.
The total prizepool of $2,151,072 will pay the winner 750k. With the buy-in halved to 5k this was a great turnout. Jon Phan and Prhalad Friedman, the two previous winners of this event played on Day 1B but neither made the leader board. The combined top 20 are:
Reyes, Manuel 205,350
Vinh, Vinny 180,000
Doland, Raymond 165,500
Young, Justin 138,950
Casal, Max 138,500
Raskin, Micah 135,000
Stark, Philip 132,575
Goott, Ari 129,000
Michelman, Ken 125,200
Zadfar, C. 125,000
Brunetti, Franco 124,575
Kmbikian, Peter 122,425
Baxter, Mike 117,700
Phan, Tim 110,700
Schiffer, Adam 109,500
Atwood, Ronald 109,475
Sebok, Joe 108,650
Karr, McLean 107,200
Greenstein, Barry 100,675
Nikjouian, Massoud 99,025
Bergeron, Craig 95,400