After three events in the United States, the World Poker Tour is back in Europe this week as WPT Baden kicked off Tuesday with the first of two starting flights. It was a fairly small Day 1A as just 104 players paid the €3,300 to participate. Just over half of them – 54 – made it to Day 2, where they will await the survivors from Day 1B. Some of those survivors may end up being players who were eliminated Tuesday, as the WPT allows players knocked out on Day 1A to re-enter (for another buy-in, of course) on Day 1B.
Baden isn’t an instantly recognizable city on the tour; it is located in eastern Austria, about 26 kilometers south of Vienna. It is known for its 13 warm natural baths which contain sulphate of lime, often giving the air an interesting odor. A town of just about 25,000 people, its most famous resident was Ludwig van Beethoven. While he was not a Baden native, he spent a lot of time there, having several residences around town.
Leading the way is Finland’s Kimmo Kurko with 149,700 chips. At this stage in the tournament, his lead of 15,000 over the second place competitor is actually fairly sizable, the blinds are so low that that gap is the equivalent of 25 big blinds. It’s only Day 1, though, and this is in no way a runaway; there are nine players with over 100,000 chips.
Kurko’s live tournament resume is an interesting one. Looking at his history on TheHendonMob.com, he has a long string of cashes dating back to 2007, but only one cash in a World Poker Tour Main Event (2012 WPT Vienna – 36th for €7,990) and no World Series of Poker cashes. He has a number of European Poker Tour (EPT) cashes, though, including the biggest of his career, a €220,000 score when he won the €2,200 No-Limit Hold’em event at EPT San Remo. In all, Kimmo Kurko has won just over $1 million in live tournaments.
As this has the feel of a regional tournament, there aren’t a ton of household names in the field. Some recognizable faces who made it through Day 1A include Steve O’Dwyer (118,000 chips), Champions Club members Marvin Rettenmaier and Lukas Berglund (86,000 and 78,900, respectively), and Kara Scott (41,800).
WPT Baden Day 1B will pick up at 2:00pm local time Wednesday as a new batch of players tries to start their run towards a World Poker Tour title.
World Poker Tour Baden Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Kimmo Kurko – 149,700
2. Andrey Shatilov – 134,700
3. Stjepan Jokic – 130,300
4. Robert Hoogendoorn – 128,000
5. Ismael Bojang – 118,000
6. Steve O’Dwyer – 118,000
7. Oswin Ziegelbecker – 115,100
8. Alban Juen – 103,300
9. Mihails Morozovs – 100,300
10. Andreas Zauner – 92,900
