The 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Maryland Live! Main Event has been a swift one, as after just two days (three calendar days because of the two starting flights), the field has been whittled from 337 to just 20 players. Leading the charge for the quarter-million dollar first prize is 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Greg Merson with 1.285 million chips. He holds a sizable chips lead as the only player with over a million, as his stack is about 50 percent greater than that of his closest competitor.
As mentioned, Merson’s most significant claim to poker fame is his WSOP Main Event win from a few years ago. Just before that $8.5 million cash, he had another seven-figure score, as he won a bracelet in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Event that year. Since then, he has not had a whole lot of notable runs on the live tournament circuit. In 2014, he finished as the runner-up in the $25,000 High Roller Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, winning nearly $1 million. He also finished fourth in a $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event at the WSOP this summer, good for $152,000.
Merson and everyone else remaining in this tournament have already earned at least $10,524, but clearly Merson is on track to do much better than that. With the relatively small field, the six-figure prizes do not kick in until there are just three players left.
One of Merson’s biggest pots, and the one that gave him the chip lead, came very late in the day. According to WPT.com, there were a number of raises pre-flop, resulting in Fred Goldberg, the tenth place finisher in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, to end up all-in. Merson and Joe Cashen continued on to battle for a side pot of about 100,000. On the flop of 8♥-6♣-2♣, Cashen bet 100,000 and Merson called. Both players checked the 7♣ on the turn and after Cashen checked the 4♣ on the river, Merson bet 125,000. Cashen knew he was beat, showing his frustration with some choice words, but he wanted to see for himself, so he called. Merson flipped over J♣-J♦ for a flush and Cashen revealed two red Kings. Goldberg had two black Threes, also good for a flush, but not good enough to beat Merson, so he was eliminated in 23rd place. At that point, Merson’s chip stack was elevated to 1.3 million.
Day 3 will begin shortly, at noon ET in Hanover, Maryland as the tournament plays down to the final six players.
2015 World Poker Tour Maryland Live! Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Greg Merson – 1,285,000
2. Xin Wang – 850,000
3. Andjelko Andrejevic – 825,000
4. Cate Hall – 804,000
5. Jerry Payne – 778,000
6. Nicholas Palma – 692,000
7. Joseph Cashen – 559,000
8. Aaron Mermelstein – 536,000
9. Craig Bergeron – 515,000
10. Darren Elias – 457,000
