Sunday marked the second of two starting days of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. One of the storied WPT events, the Five Diamond was dominated on Day 1B by Paul Niemela, who holds 261,000 chips entering Day 2 and was the only player to break the 200,000 threshold. Claiming the second largest chip stack after Day 1B was Evan McNiff at 190,000.
Niemela is no stranger to high-dollar tournaments. In fact, he owns five World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the money finishes for a grand total of $25,000. In addition, he made the final table of a WSOP Circuit Event at Caesars Palace, finishing sixth and grabbing $16,000 in the process. In the $1,000 buy-in Circuit Event, he faced stiff competition, led by Full Tilt Poker pro Allen Cunningham, who took home the win, and David Tran (third place), who finished 14th in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Niemela has 30% more chips than Phil Hellmuth, who sits with the third largest stack entering Day 2 at the Bellagio.
Second in chips after Day 1B was Evan McNiff, who owns 190,000. Like Niemela, McNiff has found success on the WSOP felts. He finished 373rd in the 2008 Main Event and banked $28,000. He has two other Top 30 finishes in No Limit Hold’em tournaments during WSOP play for a combined $40,000. In his profile posted on the World Series of Poker’s website, he is quoted as saying, “I dropped out of college after my second year and am now living a sick life. I love my sick life.”
Marco Traniello, husband of poker pro Jennifer Harman, holds the third greatest chip stack after Day 1B at 152,000. Traniello made the final table and finished fifth in the World Championship of Pot Limit Omaha during the 2007 WSOP, cashing for $156,000. He has a total of 20 WSOP scores to his name for $380,000. In the 2005 Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Traniello finished 30th and pocketed $48,000. He also finished 58th in the 2006 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $12,000.
Sitting with the fifth largest chip stack after Day 1B is Carlos Mortensen. The Spaniard recorded a bracelet win in only his second WSOP cash by taking down the 2001 Main Event for $1.5 million. The final table of that tournament featured some of the poker world’s legendary names including Dewey Tomko, Phil Gordon, Hellmuth, and Mike Matusow. Tomko pocketed just over $1 million for his second place finish. Mortensen was one of the last players to win the Main Event before the poker world was turned upside down by Chris Moneymaker in 2003.
Entering Day 2, the top ten chip counts at the Bellagio, according to WPT tournament officials, are:
1. Paul Niemela – 260,775
2. Evan McNiff – 190,375
3. Phil Helmuth – 188,150
4. Gary Gibbs – 169,075
5. Clonie Gowen – 162,550
6. Kido Pham – 153,000
7. Ryan Young – 152,650
8. Marco Traniello – 152,050
9. Luke Staudenmaier – 147,000
10. Kevin Schaffel – 144,775
There were 490 players who registered for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, which was down sharply from last year’s count of 664. Accordingly, the payout structure will be as follows:
1st: $1,538,730
2nd: $936,760
3rd: $540,440
4th: $396,205
5th: $288,235
6th: $216,175
7th: $165,735
8th: $115,295
9th: $100,880
10th: $86,470
11th-15th: $72,060
16th-20th: $57,645
21st-30th: $43,235
31st-40th: $36,030
41st-50th: $28,825
51st-70th: $23,420
71st-100th: $21,620
Day 2 will kick off at 12:00 Noon local time. Play will pick back up with 376 players out of the original 497 remaining in contention. The tournament will crown a champion on Friday. As part of the festivities at the Bellagio, a ClubWPT tournament will occur on Wednesday. The event comes with a $540 price tag. Players will start with 6,000 chips and blind levels last 40 minutes each. The tournament is not related to ClubWPT other than in its name.
