The Great Dane(credit: Gus Hansen's Official Web Site)
Only 210 players showed up for Day 1a of the World Poker Tour Championship at The Bellagio this past weekend. The lower than expected attendance concerned some. However, what that first day of action may have lacked in quantity it sure made up for it in quality. Each table was stacked with top-notch poker talent. Hoyt Corkins, Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Dario Minieri, Brandon Cantu and Steve Billiraikis were all in attendance.
Hitting the rail were folks such as David Williams, Scott Clements, Hasan Habib and Cirque du Soleil’s Guy Laliberte.
Day 1b saw an infusion of new players. 355 signed up to play on Sunday. This brought the prize pool up to a whopping $13,216,250. The top two finishers will become guaranteed millionaires. Tom “durrr” Dwan made an unfortunate prop bet with Alan Sass, aka “The Usher”. He slept in and arrived late so he has to wear a funky hat throughout the tournament. Dwan KO’d both Beth Shak and former online phenom Justin Bonomo early on in the day so he was guaranteed at least one more day with the strange head gear.
Victor Ramdin, Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi were among the pros in attendance on Day 1b. Big names such as Gavin Griffin, Lee Watkinson, Andy Bloch and Allen Cunningham were eliminated.
A total of 421 people took to the felt on Day 2. Many expressed the opinion that this was, hands-down, on of the toughest fields to get through. The rail was populated by some of the best talents in the game … ever. People such as Ted Forrest, Layne Flack, Shannon Shorr, Erick Lindgren, Freddy Deeb, Joe Hachem, Michael Mizrachi, Jennifer Harman, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari had to content themselves with the role of viewer instead of doer.
Carlos Mortensen, Robert Mizrachi and Tom “Durrr” Dwan (still wearing an ugly hat) remained in the thick of the action, ready to tackle the field on Day 3.
Day 3 started with 188 players, 100 of whom would make bank in this event. Tournament Director Jack McClelland, with Daniel Negreanu in tow, changed the WPT’s long-held rule of “show one, show both” rule after engaging the players in a vote. Once the cards got in the air, the bustouts came fast and furious. In the first three levels, the contestants were in the money. Jordan Rich was the unfortunate bubble boy, leaving the action in 101st place.
Anna “Poker Pixie” Wroblewski, reigning WPT Ladies Night champ Kristy Gazes, Mark Seif and Irish legend Padraig Parkinson bid the competition farewell before the night was over. A few hands before play ended, Gus Hansen crippled Tim Phan, laying claim to a 2.4 million monster of a pot. This rocketed the Great Dane up to the top of the chip heap. He’ll be in good position when Day 4 action gets underway.
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