The first of six days of play in the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic kicked off on Saturday. A total of 696 poker hopefuls entered the marquee WPT event, up 5% from last year’s total of 665. At the conclusion of Day 1, the 406 survivors are chasing K.J. Nam, who holds 135,500 chips; the average stack is 34,000.
Right behind Nam is poker pro Danny Wong, who finished fourth in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $217,000. The final three players in that tournament included its winner, Jesper Hougaard, along with Cody Slaubaugh and Aaron Kanter. Wong also took fifth in the $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout in 2008 for $33,000; that event was won by online poker pro Matt “mattg1983” Graham, who bested “Survivor: China” contestant Jean-Robert Bellande heads-up. Wong holds 132,025 chips and will take the field at Table 13 on Sunday.
In fifth place is a familiar name in the poker world: Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu. Kid Poker told WPT officials after play had concluded on Saturday, “I got pretty lucky today.” The crowd favorite from Canada owns four WSOP bracelets in total, with his most recent piece of hardware coming in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament last year. Negreanu finished fifth in the £10,000 buy-in WSOP Europe Main Event in September for £217,200, a tournament eventually won by Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda. Negreanu amassed 112,375 chips during Day 1 at the Commerce Casino, the site of the L.A. Poker Classic.
Team PokerStars Pro is also represented in the top 10 by Steven Paul-Ambrose, who sits with the eighth largest chip stack of 90,675, and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, who is right behind him with 90,275. Grospellier took down the WPT Festa al Lago in October for $1.4 million. One year ago, he logged a win in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. He’s one of only three players who have won major titles on the WPT and EPT circuits.
Reigning L.A. Poker Classic champion Phil Ivey sits in 22nd place entering Day 2 with 74,275 chips, over twice the average stack. Ivey’s lone WPT win was worth $1.5 million. He has a grand total of nine WPT in the money finishes to his name; all but one has been for a final table appearance. Ivey has nearly $3 million in earnings on WPT felts and holds five WSOP bracelets to boot. Interestingly, none of Ivey’s pieces of hardware have been won in Texas Hold’em tournaments (Pot Limit Omaha twice, Limit SHOE, Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low, and Limit Seven Card Stud).
Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the room entering Day 2 on Sunday:
1st: K.J. Nam, 135,350
2nd: Danny Wong, 132,025
3rd: Daniel O’Brien, 116,325
4th: Kofi Farkye, 114,850
5th: Daniel Negreanu, 112,375
6th: Anthony Venturini, 99,975
7th: Kevin Schaffel, 95,350
8th: Steve Paul-Ambrose, 90,675
9th: Bertrand Grospellier, 90,275
10th: Tommy Hang, 88,500
Other notable survivors in the top 100 include:
12th: Amir Vahedi, 81,225
17th: Nick Schulman, 77,000
18th: David Pham, 76,725
20th: Antonio Esfandiari, 74,875
21st: Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza, 74,300
25th: Mark Newhouse, 69,550
34th: David Chiu, 62,075
43rd: Joe Sebok, 60,425
63rd: Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, 54,975
66th: J.J. Liu, 54,100
74th: Adam “csimmsux” Geyer, 52,250
85th: Peter Neff, 49,550
89th: Jimmy “gobboboy” Fricke, 48,950
92nd: Paul Wasicka, 48,600
97th: Toto Leonidas, 47,975
99th: Phil Laak, 47,700
The L.A. Poker Classic concludes on Thursday, when the six-handed televised final table will take place. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the Commerce Casino.
