The first official event of Season XIII of the World Poker Tour has reached its penultimate day as Massoud Eskandari leads the final table at the WPT Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.
16 men returned to action on Thursday, looking to get down to the official WPT final table of six players. In command at the start of the day was Tyler Kenney with 2.955 million chips, but Jeremy Kottler was only about 400K in chips behind him. Add in other players such as WPT champions Andy Frankenberger and Keven Stammen, Dylan Wilkerson and Owen Crowe, and the stage was set for an exciting day of poker.
Kottler went on the offensive from the “shuffle up and deal” call, taking out Huy Lam in 16th place to move into the lead over Kenney. After rivering a straight against Eskandari, Kottler cracked the three million chip mark to seemingly solidify his lead, but he would turn around and give them back when his pocket tens were coolered by Richard Munro’s pocket Aces. Kenney, meanwhile, slowly ground his chips up to over 3.5 million as the mid-afternoon mark hit.
While Kottler’s rambling stack was intriguing to watch, it was Eskandari’s seemingly Lazarus-like recovery that kept the Bike on the edge of their seats. After a battle against Kottler, Eskandari was down to only 190K in chips (an M rating of less than 10), but he refused to succumb to the remainder of the field. He would find a double up through Taylor McFarland to get a bit healthier, then would go on a run that would eventually drive him to the chip lead at the final table.
Eskandari went to battle against Stammen in what would prove to be the catalyst for that final table run as well as a stunning hand. On an A♣ Q♦ 10♠ rainbow flop, Eskandari would commit his chips again and Stammen was more than happy to make the call. Eskandari’s Q♣ 10♣ had caught bottom two pair, but Stammen had also hit on the hand with his A♦ Q♠ for a better two pair. Having only about a 12% chance to win the hand, Eskandari pulled off a miracle as a 9♣ peeled off on the turn and a J♣ came down on the river. The unlikely runner-runner flush pushed Eskandari amongst the chip leaders while Stammen was left with scraps.
Now it was Stammen’s turn to show some resilience as he turned his meager holdings into 1.34 million in chips in reaching the unofficial ten-handed final table. He was still a distance back of Kottler and Tyler Cornell, who held 4.8 and 3.3 million chips, respectively. When Cornell dumped Frankenberger (the 2010 champion of this event) in tenth place, he drew into the lead as the players had only three more eliminations to end the day’s proceedings.
After being relatively quiet, Eskandari now reappeared on the scene. He doubled through Kottler to reach 3.2 million chips, then eliminated Munro in ninth place to creep closer to the four million mark. Another clash between Eskandari and Stammen once again saw Eskandari emerge victorious, his K-9 making a King high straight over Stammen’s A-9 Queen high straight (board of Q-J-10-2-8) to push him over 4 million in chips. Cornell kept the lead, however, as he finished off Stammen in eighth place.
Two hands later, the situation would change. Cornell attempted to run a bluff past Harut Arutyunyan but, when Arutyunyan looked him up and tabled a set of eights, Cornell’s ten-high went into the muck; the resulting chip loss pushed Eskandari into the lead as the final table bubble battle raged on.
More than 60 hands following the departure of Stammen from the event, the final table was set. After a bet from McFarland, Crowe would push his nearly million chip stack on a three-bet. McFarland agonized over the call before committing himself to the hand and it turned out to be the right move. His A-Q held the edge over Crowe’s A-J and, after an uneventful seven high board, Crowe was out in seventh and the final table was set.
1. Massoud Eskandari, 5.975 million
2. Harut Arutyunyan, 3.67 million
3. Tyler Kenney, 2.555 million
4. Tyler Cornell, 2.525 million
5. Taylor McFarland, 2.25 million
6. Jeremy Kottler, 1.975 million
The Legends of Poker final table is a tough one to handicap. While Eskandari has the chips, Kottler has the experience of being on the WPT stage (this is his third final table). Kenney and Cornell have shown a great deal of willingness to aerate their chips and, should the cards fall their way, would be formidable opponents. Arutyunyan, a Bike regular, and McFarland can’t be overlooked either.
The final table begins at 4PM (Pacific Time) and virtually everyone is assured of a six figure payday (only sixth place is under that at $83,075). The eventual champion of the WPT Legends of Poker will take home a neat $576,369 and have their name engraved on the WPT Champions’ Cup at the first champion of Season XIII on the WPT.
