Apologies if we missed this while focusing on other things, but did you know that the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event has been underway for a few days? Seriously. It’s actually going on right now as I write this. And after Day 2, two players are tied for the lead: Jeremy Joseph and Kimbo Ung.
When I write these sorts of articles, I sometimes talk about the texture of the leaderboard. At times, one or two players jump out to enormous leads. At other times, there is a nice, even spread up and down the top ten or so. The top of this leaderboard, though, is one of the tightest I have ever seen.
Joseph and Ung are tied for first with 1.110 million chips, but it might as well be a four-way dead heat. After those two comes Brian Altman with 1.050 million chips and then Gueorgui Gantchev with 1,025,000. Now, normally with a grouping like that, there would be a chasm to the next players in the standings, but not so here. Fifth place: a tie between Aaron Van Blarcum and Josias Santos at 970,000. Seventh place: Jisup Hwang at 940,000. It’s pretty incredible.
With two starting flights and registration open until the beginning of Day 2, there was ample opportunity for players to signup for the tournament. When registration closed, the tally was 520 entries for the $5,000 WPT Legends of Poker Main Event and a prize pool of nearly $2.4 million. 65 players will make the money (min cash is $8,190) and the winner will receive $474,390.
37 players made it through Day 2.
One of the co-chip leaders, Kimbo Ung went on a demolition spree during the second-to-last level of the night to elevate himself to the top of the pack. On one hand, he and Chance Kornuth got into a raising war pre-flop before Kornuth was all-in for more than 350,00 chips. Ung made the easy call with two red Kings against Kornuth’s Q-7. The flop gave Kornuth a chance at a gutter, but that was it and he was out in 49th place.
Right after that, on a flop of T-9-8 and 120,000 in the pot, Ryan Rose shoved for 169,000. Ung needed to think about this one, finally calling with A-T, good for top pair. It was a wise decision, as Rose had 5-5 and Ung’s pair held up. That hand took Ung’s chip stack over the million mark.
As mentioned, the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event is currently into its third day at famed The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California. The plan for today is to get all the way down to the six-handed final table before calling it quits.
2019 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
- Jeremy Joseph – 1,110,000
- Kimbo Ung – 1,110,000
- Brian Altman – 1,050,000
- Gueorgui Gantchev – 1,025,000
- Aaron Van Blarcum – 970,000
- Josias Santos – 970,000
- Jisup Hwang – 940,000
- Nipun Java – 820,000
- Anthony An – 765,000
- Kitty Kuo – 715,000