The survivors of the two Day 1 flights came together on Monday (along with some late additions) for Day 2 of the 2016 World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event. The field just made it into the money yesterday, so most of the 67 remaining players should have slept fairly peacefully, knowing that they will at least make a small profit, even if they bust out as soon as they sit down on Tuesday. Jeremy Kottler is the chip leader as the only person with over a million chips.
Kottler has earned over $1.3 million in live poker tournaments, according to TheHendonMob.com, fueled by a long list of major tournament cashes. He has seven cashes on the World Poker Tour, including a sixth place finish in this same event two years ago. He made two other WPT final tables, as well: the 2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open (fourth place) and the 2012 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (sixth place). Kottler has 17 cashes at the World Series of Poker, including three final tables.
Once the entries for those who signed up before the beginning of Day 2 were factored in, the total number of entries for the WPT Legends of Poker added up to 687. I am avoiding saying “the number of players” in this case, as players could re-enter each starting flight once as well as register before Day 2, so it is possible that a single player could pony up five separate entries (then again, in a future article, I’m sure I’ll refer to all entries as “players,” to display my inconsistency). The prize pool of the tournament is $2,465,643 with $615,346 going to the winner. A total of 72 players will make the money; the minimum cash is $7,275 on the $3,700 + $300 buy-in.*
Kottler’s rise to the chip lead was helped by a sizable hand shortly before the money bubble burst (the bubble boy was L.A. poker mainstay J.C. Tran). According to the WPT.com report, Kottler raised to 12,000 chips pre-flop (blinds and antes were 2,500/5,000/500), the player in the hijack called, and Adam Geyer moved all-in for 82,500. Kottler and “the hijack” both called. Both players checked the J♠-J♣-7♣ flop to bring on a turn of the J♥. Kottler bet 65,000 at that point and the hijack called. On the river 2♥, Kottler bet another 110,000 after a couple minutes of deep thought, the hijack decided to call. Kottler turned over two black Aces, good for a full house, beating the hijacks Queens and lesser full house. Fortunately for Geyer, he had the other two Aces, so he staved off elimination by chopping the main pot with Kottler.
Day 3 of the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event picks up at noon Pacific time today. The plan is to play down to eighteen players.
2016 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Jeremy Kottler – 1,048,000
2. Jamie Rosen – 780,000
3. Gary Sewell – 774,000
4. Ray Qartomy – 660,000
5. Mike Del Vecchio – 620,000
6. David Pham – 599,000
7. Upeshka De Silva – 578,000
8. Benjamin Zamani – 560,000
9. Andrew Dean – 528,000
10. William Givens – 524,000
*I should amend an earlier statement. Not everyone who cashes will necessarily profit from the tournament, as anyone who paid for more than one entry could win less money than they laid out.
