The six-handed final table of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker will play out today, with World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Kevin Schaffel leading the way. Schaffel owns 2.23 million chips.
Schaffel will have his work cut out for him on Wednesday, as Prahlad Friedman and Toto Leonidas will join him at the feature table. Friedman is a WSOP bracelet holder whose piece of hardware came by virtue of taking down a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event in 2003 for $109,000. Friedman finished 20th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, a run that was highlighted by being a part of “Antegate” with Jeffrey Lisandro. The Legends of Poker event marks his first WPT final table and he’ll come armed to play with the third largest chip stack.
Leonidas is also making his debut at a televised WPT table and, like Friedman, owns one WSOP bracelet that came in 2003. Leonidas won a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud event that year for $98,000, defeating a stacked final 10 that included two-time bracelet winner Rod Pardey, Jennifer Harman, former WSOP Main Event Champion Scotty Nguyen, and reigning National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed. Leonidas has eight WSOP final tables under his belt and is the short-stack entering Wednesday’s play at the Bicycle Casino for the Legends of Poker.
Here is how the final six will look when the cards hit the air at 4:00pm PT:
1. Kevin Schaffel – 2,234,000
2. Todd Terry – 2,219,000
3. Prahlad Friedman – 1,476,000
4. Mike Krescanko – 1,209,000
5. Sam Stein – 743,000
6. Toto Leonidas – 580,000
A total of 24 players took to the felts on Tuesday in the Legends of Poker. The unfortunate title of “Final Table Bubble Boy” went to Vigen Manukyan, who was sent to the rails courtesy of Friedman. Manukyan pushed pre-flop with ducks, but ran into Friedman’s pocket queens. The board ran out K-3-3-8-10 and Manukyan earned $64,000 for his seventh place showing. When the field combined into one table, Manukyan was down to a single big blind and proved that, in poker, all you need is a chip and a chair.
Todd Terry sent Matt Marafioti packing in eighth place, earning $52,000. Marafioti shoved with J-10 pre-flop and Terry made the call, flipping up Q-J. The flop of A-K-2 gave both players straight draws, but a seven and five on the turn and river, respectively, preserved the win for Terry. Manukyan crippled Marafioti on the previous hand after Marafioti’s A-10 fell short of pocket jacks on a 10-high board.
WSOP November Nine member Steven Begleiter made waves in the Legends of Poker, but his run abruptly ended in ninth place. The Full Tilt Poker pro earned $39,000 for his efforts. Begleiter pushed pre-flop holding just K-3 with 25 big blinds remaining, but ran into Terry’s A-Q. The board bricked out for Begleiter, who pointed out at the beginning of play that tournament officials had awarded him an extra 90,000 chips during the color up on Monday night. Begleiter sunk from third place to sixth on the leaderboard as a result of the error, but posters on various poker forums have commended his honesty.
The list of players who fell by the wayside on Tuesday is as follows:
7. Vigen Manukyan – $64,400
8. Matt Marafioti – $52,320
9. Steven Begleiter – $39,240
10. Sergei Veytser – $32,700
11. James Mackey – $32,700
12. Eric Hershler – $32,700
13. Eugene Katchalov – $26,160
14. Thu Nguyen – $26,160
15. Stan Jablonski – $26,160
16. Matt Widdoes – $22,240
17. David Demanski – $22,240
18. Steven Chao – $22,240
19. Carter King – $18,285
20. Bob Lauria – $18,285
21. Tony Gargano – $18,285
22. Kia Mohajeri – $18,285
23. Peter Rho- $18,285
24. Richard Sciuto – $18,285
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for full WPT Legends of Poker results.
