Absolute Poker pro Mark Seif and online gamer Ben “xthesteinx” Zamani are among the leaders after one day of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. Day 2 takes place today at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.
A total of 745 players entered the $10,000 buy-in tournament, up a solid 7% from last year’s count of 696. A tent was set up outside the casino to accommodate the extra demand in a scene that was likely reminiscent of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. The top 72 players will finish in the money when the final cards are dealt on Thursday and first place will pocket $1.8 million. The minimum payout is over $18,000.
A field of 477 players will assemble on Saturday in Los Angeles. Defending champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan was one of the casualties of Friday’s action. Taking his place at a table featuring Full Tilt Poker pro Mike Matusow was none other than 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth. Upon the UB.com pro arriving at his new digs, Matusow welcomed him with the following line: “Welcome to the table. You’re now the worst player at the worst table in the room.”
The Commerce Casino spent the day buzzing about the now-infamous prop bet with Gavin Smith, “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, and Jeff Madsen. The trio agreed on a creative last longer bet in which the first player to bust from the L.A. Poker Classic had to adorn tattoos of the other two players’ faces. The second player to bust had to ink a tattoo of the remaining player’s face. Sebok saw his aces cracked during Level 3 play and was the first musketeer eliminated. Then, it was Madsen’s turn to go. Accordingly, Smith came out on top of one of the wildest prop bets ever conducted. Whether a buyout of the bet will occur remains to be seen.
Heading into Day 2, Masa Kagawa paces the field with a stack of 124,000 chips. He’ll head to Table 4 on Saturday and will be keeping a watchful eye out for Seif, who holds 122,000 chips. Seif, a sponsored pro of the CEREUS Network site Absolute Poker, is a two-time bracelet winner whose last piece of hardware came in 2005 in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event. Seif’s company will include Victory Poker pro Keith Gipson, European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie, Nick Binger, and 2009 WSOP Europe bracelet winner J.P. Kelly.
Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu, fresh off helping promote the site’s first ever North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop on U.S. soil at the Venetian, doubled up with pocket kings at the Commerce Casino on Day 1. His cowboys held against an opponent’s pocket jacks to move him to 40,000 in chips. Negreanu finished the day with a stack of 29,075, good for 223rd in the room. He appears on the leaderboard in elite company, however, as also holding around 29,000 chips are Erik Seidel, Gavin Griffin, Matt Glantz, Tuan Le, and NAPT High-Roller Bounty Shootout third place finisher Joe Cassidy.
Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic heading into Day 2:
1. Masa Kagawa – 124,575
2. Mark Seif – 122,025
3. Charles Dolan – 120,500
4. Benjamin “xthesteinx” Zamani – 115,000
5. Naoya Kihara – 104,100
6. Chansung Choi – 100,350
7. Shawn Buchanan – 100,225
8. Hieu Luu – 98,250
9. Cary Katz – 97,475
10. Eugene Katchalov – 95,675
Notable names that appear in the top 50 include:
21. David Singer – 73,525
24. Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson – 72,125
31. Robert Mizrachi – 68,575
32. Darus Suharto – 68,275
39. Peter “Belabacsi” Traply – 64,200
40. Chau Giang – 63,250
41. Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke – 63,075
44. Keith Gipson – 61,175
45. Vanessa Rousso – 60,900
46. David “WhooooKidd” Baker – 60,725
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest L.A. Poker Classic coverage.
