With two days of play in the books at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Antonio Esfandiari leads the way with a stack of 485,600. He’s the only player left standing to cross the 400,000-chip plateau.
The final field numbered 438, meaning that attendance grew by 33% year-over-year. However, this year’s installment sported a $10,000 buy-in – down from $15,000 – resulting in a smaller prize pool. In 2009, $4.7 million prize pool was up for grabs and Daniel Alaei captured a top prize of $1.4 million. This year’s champion will pocket a considerably smaller $870,000, although 100 players will finish in the money instead of last year’s 27.
Former WPT champ Allen “AawwNutz” Carter hit the rail on Saturday courtesy of Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger. Carter ran pocket tens into pocket aces on his final hand, which boosted Lichtenberger’s chip stack to 185,000. Lichtenberger ended the day by bagging up 170,600 in chips, good for the 32nd spot on the leaderboard. His company at Table 56 on Sunday will include Doyle Brunson, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Bryn Kenney, Peter Jetten, and Marco Traniello. Good luck.
Also departing on Saturday was RPM Poker pro Brent “Astrolux85” Roberts. Rather than write out the details of Roberts’ final hand, I’ll let his Twitter feed do the talking: “Out 55<88. Shoved 20 bb in the hj and Phil Hellmuth folded AQ in the cutoff. Basebaldy called from the sb and Phil berated me after I lost.” Hellmuth recorded a pair of top seven finishes during Season 9 of the WPT.
Online poker icon Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, once the top-ranked player in the PocketFives.com Rankings, hit the skids on Saturday at the hands of Phil Ivey. Josephy 3bet all-in pre-flop in an apparent squeeze play and received calls from Ivey and Albert Kim. Ivey led out on a flop of K-6-3, Kim folded, and Ivey tabled A-K for top pair, top kicker. Josephy showed A-J for ace-high and no help came on the turn or river. Ivey, who held a top 10 stack after Day 1, continued his strong showing yesterday and now owns the eighth spot in the standings with 308,100.
The top 10 on the leaderboard at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic is littered with multiple bracelet winners and former WPT champs:
1. Antonio Esfandiari – 485,600
2. Daniel Fuhs – 397,500
3. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka – 364,400
4. Doug Lee – 355,000
5. Vanessa Rousso – 334,100
6. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 332,400
7. Keith Gipson – 325,100
8. Phil Ivey – 308,100
9. Doyle Brunson – 295,400
10. Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell – 290,100
Other top pros remaining that hold chip stacks in the top 50 include:
18. Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet – 246,200
22. Hafiz Khan – 213,700
28. McLean Karr – 181,200
32. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 170,600
33. John Juanda – 167,900
34. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 167,000
38. David “Bakes” Baker – 159,600
41. Dan Shak – 156,800
46. David Singer – 139,400
50. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner – 132,200
Complicating matters today will be the Las Vegas Marathon, which kicks off at Noon PT and will close Las Vegas Boulevard. Players heading to the Bellagio, which is located on the Strip, should leave plenty of time to arrive in time for the “Shuffle up and deal” command. Day 3 of the WPT Five Diamond also begins at Noon.