The pros descend on the WPT LA Poker Classic
Monday, 25 February 2008
A total of 428 players came back for Day 2 at the WPT LA Poker
Classic, with an incredibly strong field throwing together some
really scary looking tables. Two in particular stood out above the
rest, and were the centre of attention for the railboard
A total of 428 players came back for Day 2 at the WPT LA Poker
Classic, with an incredibly strong field throwing together some
really scary looking tables. Two in particular stood out above the
rest, and were the centre of attention for the railboards at the
Commerce.
Many professional players hit the rail during the first level of
play, with a total of seven tables being broken while players made
their move to gather chips. Among those who ended up leaving the
tournament were Jean-Robert Bellande, Max Pescatori, Jordan Morgan
and Carlos Mortensen. As droves of players left the tournament,
their chips found new homes, with Mickey Mills inheriting many.
Down to 6,000 at one time, he then went on something of a heater
before hitting 200,000 around dinner. He eventually ended the day
on 129,900 – a mere 2,065% increase on his 6,000 stack.
The table which drew the most attention was Table 14, which
included a mix of old-school and new. Bob Stupak and Tony Ma
represented the old-school, Danny Wong and Aaron Been the young
guns. Defending LAPC champion Eric Hershler had his hands full, and
that wasn’t included Phil Hellmuth, who was also on the table.
If you thought that table was tough, Table 9 was a nightmare for
any player who wasn’t one of this lot:
Seat 1: Antonio Esfandiari
Seat 2: Anna Wroblewski
Seat 5: Johnny Chan
Seat 6: David Singer
Seat 9: David Benyamine
Just to make it easier, they chucked Phil Ivey on there during
the last level of day. It wasn’t all bad news though – he knocked
out Johnny Chan after a couple of hands sitting down. Out goes
Chan, in comes Ivey. Got to be a marginally softer table now,
right?
After the chips had been bagged up for the day, casualties
included: Johnny Chan, Paul Wasicka, Barry Greenstein, David
Williams, John Juanda, Bill Edler, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Todd
Brunson, Erick Lindgren, John Hennigan, and Montel Williams.
Those who had fared better and found themselves on the
leaderboard were:
Daniel Fuhs: 397,100
Kyle Burnside: 279,700
Phil Ivey: 279,000
Antonio Esfandiari: 245,000
Blair Hinkle: 224,000
Jennifer Tilly: 218,700
Yury Parad: 213,100
Haralabos Voulgaris: 203,900
Mike Watson: 195,900
Noah Schwartz: 186,800