The World Poker Tour (WPT) is wrapping up the 2010 calendar year with the annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The $10,000 buy-in event kicks off on Friday.
One of the most prestigious tournaments on the WPT schedule, the Five Diamond will draw some of the biggest names in the game. There will be one change that should draw a larger field for this year’s version of the tournament, however. In the past, the WPT Five Diamond event had a $15,000 buy-in. Perhaps reflecting tighter bankrolls, this year’s Five Diamond event is a $10,000 buy-in tournament.
The Five Diamond started on November 28th with an abbreviated schedule in comparison to past years. This year’s schedule featured 12 tournaments, whereas in 2009 there were 16 on the schedule. Preliminary events completed on this year’s tournament roster have been sparsely attended, even with the buy-ins reduced.
To this point, six events have been completed: three No Limit Hold’em tournaments, a Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys tournament, an Omaha High/Low tournament, and the Seniors’ Event. Of these tournaments, none has cracked 250 players.
“Miami” John Cernuto made the final table of the first $500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, which was won by Zeferino Hernandez. James Van Alstyne and Mark Gregorich made the money in the Omaha High/Low tournament, which was won by poker veteran Ken Lennaard.
Earning more points towards his run at the CardPlayer Player of the Year title was North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian champion Tom Marchese, who won the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em with rebuys tournament. Finally, in a tournament that featured three female combatants at the final table, Karen Munro took the title in the second $500 No Limit Hold’em event.
One of the final preliminary events on the Five Diamond schedule, a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, will take place today, with the remainder of Thursday dedicated to satellites. Ready to go for today’s $5,000 event is WPT “Raw Deal” host Tony “Bond_18” Dunst, who Tweeted to his followers, “Off to the Bellagio to the play the 5k today, let us go go go!”
The WPT Five Diamond has been a crowning achievement for several of poker’s most notable players. “The Great Dane” Gus Hansen won the first ever cycle back in 2002 and such notable poker pros as Paul Phillips, PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Eugene Katchalov, and November Niner David “Chino” Rheem have captured the title in the past.
Last year’s tournament was won by Daniel Alaei, who is expected to be on hand at the Bellagio to defend his WPT title. In 2009, Alaei outlasted a field of 329 players who built a prize pool of over $4.7 million. Daniel defeated a stacked final table that included former World Champion Scotty Nguyen, Shawn Buchanan, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, and eventual runner-up Josh Arieh to take home a $1.4 million first prize.
Poker News Daily will keep you up to date on all of the action at the Bellagio as the WPT wraps up 2010 in style.
