The second-ever running of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prague Main Event began Monday as 115 players put up €3,300 for the first of three starting flights. Finland’s Pasi Heinanen finished Day 1A as the chip leader, just 2,000 ahead of Shannon Shorr.
WPT Prague debuted on the tour at this same time last year during Season X. Russia’s Andrey Pateychuk won it all, defeating 570 opponents to claim the €450,000 first prize. It will take bigger days than today’s Day 1A field to eclipse last year’s mark, but Day 1A’s are traditionally smaller than subsequent starting flights, so there is a good chance the 2012 WPT Prague will best the 2011 version.
Shorr looked like he was going to cruise to the end of the day as the chip leader, as he held the top spot for much of the final level of the night. His highlight hand came just before the dinner break when he used pocket Aces to knock out Bryn Kenney and his pocket nines, growing his stack to 160,000 chips. Heinanen was able to squeeze by Shorr near the end of the final level, though, to take a 2,000 chips lead heading into Day 2.
Pasi Heinanen has live tournament cashes to his name dating back seven years, but does not really have all that prolific of a resume. He has earned just shy of $500,000, with his top two cashes coming back in 2007. That year, he finished second in the €2,500 Helsinki Freezeout Main Event, winning €93,000 ($120,881) and then had another runner-up finish in the €2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event of the Midnight Sun Poker Festival, good for €76,560 ($102,941). Heinanen has one cash on the World Poker Tour, finishing 14th in the 2007 WPT Spanish Championship for €16,800 ($23,603).
Shannon Shorr, conversely, has a lengthy live tournament resume, although he has never won a WPT or WSOP title. He has six WPT cashes, three of which are top ten finishes, and 25 WSOP cashes, including three final tables. His largest cash was for close to a million dollars for winning the 2006 $10,000 Bellagio Cup II. All told, Shorr has won $4.75 million on the live tournament circuit.
Day 1B kicks off Tuesday at 1:00pm local time as a new group of players try to start their journey towards a World Poker Tour title. Day 1C will follow on Wednesday and then the 55 remaining players from Day 1A will meet up with the Day 1B and Day 1C survivors for Day 2 on Thursday. The tournament will continue the rest of the week before concluding with the six-handed final table on Sunday, December 9th.
2012 World Poker Tour Prague – Day 1A Chip Leaders
- Pasi Heinanen – 193,800
- Shannon Shorr – 191,800
- Pawel Brzeski – 173,100
- Sebastien Garrasi – 143,900
- Oleksii Khoroshenin – 129,800
- Yngve Steen – 109,200
- Roman Kolenev – 95,900
- Marco Lang – 93,700
- Mike Watson – 88,400
- Julian Herold – 84,100
