The World Poker Tour is back in action this week, swinging through Europe with the start of the WPT Prague Main Event. Though we suppose “action” might not be the most appropriate word here as the turnout was…how should we put this…lacking.
According to the updates from WPT.com, only eleven (ELEVEN!) players were seated when the tournament began. I mean, hell, that’s a small enough field to squeeze them all at one table if you really wanted to and just stick them in the hallway if you need to free up the poker room for a wedding reception or something. That’s fewer people than were at the 4:00pm Wednesday showing of Matthew Broderick’s Godzilla I attended back in 1998.
A whopping 60 players eventually showed up, making Day 1A of the WPT Prague Main Event look like it could pass for a major tournament if you crossed your eyes a little and made everything look blurry. 38 made it to Day 2.
As is the case in every tournament with multiple starting days, the Day 1B turnout is expected to be much bigger than Day 1A. It will have to be if the Kings Casino wants a field that remotely resembles something respectable.
Last year’s field at WPT Prague wasn’t too impressive, either, as just 306 players signed up for the €3,300 event. It will take some effort to even get to that point this week, though. The two seasons before that saw turnouts of 571 and 567, so there is some precedent for a respectable field. Perhaps everyone was in the United States for Thanksgiving and are still lagging from a long weekend and overdoses of tryptophan.
It is a close race at the top of the standings with just 4,300 chips separating first from third. Leading the 38 surviving players is Aliaksei Boika with 95,500 chips, followed by Vosjech Ruzicka with 93,000 and then Brian Senie with 91,200. Sweden’s Alexander Ivarsson looked like he was going to run away with Day 1A, as he grew his chip stack to 126,000, but he fell back down to earth, finishing the day with 81,200, good for fourth place.
Day 1B has gotten underway today across the pond as hopefully more players decide to register. The plan is to play for eight levels before calling it a night.
2015 World Poker Tour Prague Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Aliaksei Boika – 95,500
2. Vosjech Ruzicka – 93,000
3. Brian Senie – 91,200
4. Alexander Ivarsson – 81,200
5. Oliver Heidel – 80,700
6. Gaelle Baumann – 77,100
7. Jonathan Dimmig – 76,500
8. Yung Hwang – 74,400
9. Matas Cimbolas – 70,900
10. Joao Vieira – 70,800
