After two starting days in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament, Chris Trapani leads the way with a stack of 197,900. Needless to say, the week has been an emotional roller coaster for Trapani, who gave a eulogy to his father, Marko, prior to the start of play on Day 1A. Marko was the creator of the Shooting Star format and, after Tuesday’s play, it appears that Chris is making his dad quite proud.
On his successful father, Trapani told WPT Hostess Kimberly Lansing following play yesterday, “Marko used to hang out in that corner office and look out over the poker floor. It’s pretty gratifying to win that hand [and bust out Erick Lindgren]. My dad loved all of the players. He was all about the players and all about the tournament. It was really nice to hear all those compliments at the table.” Trapani received a $10,000 bonus for ending Day 1B as the chip leader.
Lindgren went out in especially vicious fashion. He was all-in before the flop with pocket kings and up against Trapani, who also held cowboys. What many assumed to be a chopped pot ended with Trapani hitting a four flush on the turn to send the Full Tilt Poker pro packing. Trapani picked up a $5,000 bonus for eliminating Lindgren along with an autographed shirt.
Trapani will captain Table 31 on Wednesday for Day 2 and his company will include reigning WPT Championship winner David Williams, Full Tilt Online Poker Series jersey holder Brian “Iknewwwit” Leskowitz, and Marko Trapani, Jr.
Also bowing out on Tuesday during Day 1B was Shooting Star Phil Ivey, who was all-in pre-flop with Q-9 of diamonds and ultimately sent packing as part of a three-way all-in on the flop. Ivey had quadrupled up several hands prior after flopping the nuts with 8-7 on a board of 10-9-6. The eight-time bracelet winner fended off a player with pocket tens by the time the hand was over, but couldn’t hang on to see Day 2.
At the same time at another table, WPT Host Mike Sexton tripled up after his pocket eights survived against two players who showed A-K. The PartyPoker front man and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist ended the day in 62nd place with a stack of 83,600.
Other Shooting Stars finding the rail on Tuesday included Todd Brunson, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, and Jennifer Tilly. All told, 26 Shooting Stars entered on Day 1B and only nine survived. Here’s a look at the top 10 in chips entering Day 2:
1. Chris Trapani – 197,900
2. Joris Srpingael – 196,500
3. Brian Schmidt – 187,700
4. David “Doc Sands” Sands – 175,000
5. Justin Young – 165,800
6. Eric Moore – 160,100
7. Brandon Crawford – 158,600
8. Randy Dorfman – 156,500
9. Shannon Shorr – 147,300
10. Steven Dempsey – 145,400
A total of 170 players remain out of a starting pool of 415. The event’s attendance rose drastically from last year, when 333 players turned out, meaning the number of runners grew by 25%. Over $1 million will be awarded to the winner.
Other well known poker pros left in the top 50 on the leaderboard include:
12. Kara Scott – 137,100
14. Zachary Clark – 135,600
18. Chris Ferguson – 133,200
19. Layne Flack – 131,300
21. Mike Matusow – 127,200
28. Eric Froehlich – 120,500
31. Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman – 118,800
49. Brandon Cantu – 98,400
The top 45 players will finish in the money. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT Bay 101 headlines.
