The busy weekend of poker includes the World Poker Tour (WPT) Celebrity Invitational, which is emanating from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. Day 1 of the invite-only event took place on Saturday.
Otis Hincks came out on top after one day of play, holding a stack of 242,000 chips as Day 2 kicked off on Sunday. NFL Network personality Rich Eisen owns the second largest stack at 215,500. When play kicked off today, Eisen, a former ESPN anchor, was seated at Table 16 alongside Andrew Franklin, two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jeff Madsen, John Kevin Hughes, Farrell Hinkle, David Hutchinson, UB.com pro Tiffany Michelle, Michael Mellon, and Amir Ghazvinian.
WPT Founder Steve Lipscomb was one of the final eliminations of the evening on Saturday. Lipscomb ran A-J into Victory Poker pro Sara Underwood’s A-K in the mogul’s final hand. A total of 567 players entered the 2010 WPT Celebrity Invitational, which will air as part of Season 8 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. Play on Saturday brought the field all the way down to 161, with Danial Cordi serving as the tournament’s short stack at 7,500.
Facing elimination on Saturday, “The Simpsons” co-creator Sam Simon was all-in with J-9 against two other players. Miraculously, the flop came 7-8-10, giving Simon the nuts and tripling up his stack. However, he did not reach Sunday’s action. Simon briefly competed on Season 5 of GSN’s “High Stakes Poker,” but abruptly departed in the middle of an episode. Simon finished 329th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $39,000.
In the waning moments of Saturday, Unabomber Poker pro Phil Laak doubled up through industry veteran Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum. Laak pushed pre-flop with K-10 and Newnum made the call with A-J of diamonds. Newnum’s hand was sitting pretty until the river, when a king peeled off to give Laak a pair. Laak finished the day with 99,500 chips, while Newnum ended up with 41,500, good for 106th overall.
To kick off play on Saturday, UB.com “Poker2Nite” co-hosts Scott Huff and Joe Sebok were ironically seated next do each other at Table 10. The duo was part of the largest WPT Celebrity Invitational field in history, as this year’s grid of 567 entrants blew away last year’s tally of 433, an increase of 31%. It is unknown when “Poker2Nite” Season 2 will air on Fox Sports Net.
One of the first eliminations on Day 2 on Sunday was “The Notebook” director Nick Cassavetes, who finished fifth in the Season 5 version of this tournament. Cassavetes, who has also appeared on “High Stakes Poker,” served as a director for “My Sister’s Keeper,” “Alpha Dog,” and “John Q” in addition to his work on “The Notebook.” Eliminated shortly thereafter was “Desperate Housewives” actress Teri Hatcher, who chopped pots with pocket tens and A-K before bowing out of the Season 8 WPT Celebrity Invitational. Hatcher held the 90th largest chip stack when play kicked off.
Entering this afternoon’s action on Day 2, here’s how the top 10 chip stacks looked:
1. Otis Hincks – 242,000
2. Rich Eisen – 215,500
3. Scott Vener – 185,000
4. David Marshall – 185,000
5. Kirk Acevedo – 163,500
6. Greg Gayheart – 161,000
7. Will “The Thrill” Failla – 159,000
8. Colin Cooley – 159,000
9. Bob Safai – 150,000
10. Matt Brady – 148,500
Other notable names who survived to Day 2 included:
15. Jeff Madsen – 126,000
24. David Ortiz – 108,500
32. Phil Laak – 99,500
43. Trishelle Cannatella – 86,500
50. Matt Glantz – 80,000
51. Lacey Jones – 78,500
65. Ricki Lake – 69,000
66. Roy Winston – 69,000
69. Erik Seidel – 66,000
76. Eric Dane – 61,000
97. Liv Boeree – 45,000
104. Tiffany Michelle – 42,000
113. Sara Underwood – 39,500
119. Jack McClelland – 36,500
122. Prahlad Friedman – 35,000
149. Marsha Waggoner – 20,000
153. Todd Brunson – 17,500
155. Jennifer Tilly – 16,500
Sunday will see the field trimmed from 161 players to just six. Then, the final table of the WPT Celebrity Invitational will play out on March 3rd and be filmed for television. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT coverage.
