The World Poker Tour (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic kicked off on Friday from the Connecticut casino. Whether it was due to the economy, the ongoing Spring Championship of Online Poker tournament series, or preliminary events at the WPT Championship, attendance dropped by 25% this time around.
Last year, 346 players took to the felts in April, with Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel emerging victorious from the pack. Seidel owns eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, but last year marked his first WPT victory. The 2008 Foxwoods Poker Classic final table also featured Ted Forrest, who grabbed sixth place for $103,000. Seidel earned $992,000 for his victory. This year, just 259 players entered, a drop of 25%. A post on the WPT’s website speculated, “While some of the West Coast pros stayed in Las Vegas for the Bellagio prelims, it’s clear that the economy is playing a factor here in the Northeast, where only 259 players showed up for the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic.”
Due to the sub-par turnout, the Foxwoods Poker Classic, which will air as part of the seventh season of the WPT on Fox Sports Net, will award less than three-quarters of a million dollars to its winner. The paydays will be as follows:
1st Place: $731,079
2nd Place: $409,405
3rd Place: $214,449
4th Place: $138,905
5th Place: $106,007
6th Place: $85,292
Day One in the massive Connecticut casino saw five levels of 90 minutes each played. As a result, just 165 players survived the day. The field was paced by Ken Adams, who spent the afternoon building up a stack of 140,775, over three times the average of 46,500.
The tournament will crown a champion on Wednesday. In addition to the $731,000 in cold hard cash, its victor will also pocket a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship, which begins on April 18th from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks entering Day 2:
1. Ken Adams – 140,775
2. Daniel Pelletier – 123,775
3. Anthony Gregg – 113,675
4. Nick Saxon – 109,825
5. Anthony Gargano – 108,900
6. Frankie Flowers – 108,875
7. John LaRochelle – 108,775
8. William Botchis – 108,625
9. Andy Stone – 107,100
10. Michael Farris – 104,525
Notable chip stacks remaining in the talented field include Cory “UGOTPZD” Carroll (104,500), Jonathan Jaffe (102,000), Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania (100,225), Team PokerStars Pro member Barry Greenstein (83,125), WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Champion Steve Brecher (80,000), Bodog pro David Williams (78,075), online poker pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little (78,075), and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow (50,400). In addition, three former winners of WPT events held at Foxwoods are still in the hunt: Nenad Medic (40,000), Nick Schulman (24,000), and Hoyt Corkins (18,850).
One of the final players eliminated on Day 1 was Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who took down the WPT Festa al Lago last October for $1.4 million. He defeated Nam Le heads-up in that even, with Medic and Ultimate Bet Star Player Adam “Roothlus” Levy also making the final table. Grospellier was all-in holding Q-J on a J-4-2-2-6 board for two pair, but was bested by his opponent’s pocket queens for a better two pair. Ironically, Le was bounced from Foxwoods 10 minutes earlier after being crippled when his opponent tabled a full house on an A-K-5-J-K board, showing K-J.
After play had concluded at Foxwoods, Charania told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about a hand where he flopped quads: “I had deuces and the flop came 8-2-2. I checked, Kathy Liebert bet, [an opponent] called, and I called. The turn was a jack. I checked, the other guy bet pot, I re-raised, Kathy folded, and he called. The river came a queen and I couldn’t put him on a full house. I value bet and he said, ‘I call.’ He flipped over 8-8.” Charania told Leatherman that he was “confused” by the hand, where, despite the action flop, all of the chips failed to make it into the middle of the table.
Play resumed at Noon ET today. We’ll have full updates from Foxwoods right here on Poker News Daily.
