Two days are in the books at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker, which is taking place at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Steven Begleiter continues to lead the way entering Day 3.
Begleiter brought a commanding chip lead into Sunday in Los Angeles at the Bike’s brand new Events Center. He ended the day with 426,100 chips, comfortably ahead of the second place stack of Prahlad Friedman, who owns 382,700. Begleiter eliminated online poker sensation Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron during the last level of play after flopping a set of fives on a 10-8-5 board. Baron flipped up pocket queens for an overpair, but needed running cards for a straight or a queen to survive. However, the board filled out 10-6 and Baron was sent packing.
The champion of the WPT’s Bellagio Cup, Team PokerStars Pro member Alexandre Gomes, was eliminated early on in the day. Gomes was the chip leader during the early going in the Legends of Poker, but found himself all-in after pushing with A-Q (including the ace of clubs) on a board of K-J-6-10 with three clubs for a flush draw. However, an opponent called with 3-4 of clubs for a made flush. The river was no help, sending Gomes to the exits. Interestingly, WPT coverage noted that no player has ever won back-to-back WPT events and no player has won multiple tournaments at the same venue.
Friedman scooped a sizable pot late in the day to catapult him into second on the Legends of Poker leaderboard behind Begleiter. With blinds of 800/1,600 and a 200 ante, Friedman called a re-raise to 15,000 from the player in the big blind. The flop fell J-8-5 and the big blind bet out 20,000. Friedman called to see a seven on the turn. The action went check-check to the river, which came the nine of hearts. Friedman led out for 60,000 and his opponent called. Friedman turned over pocket nines for a set, which was enough to scoop the pot and claim the second largest chip stack entering Day 3. Here is how the Top 10 in the field looks:
1. Steven Begleiter – 426,100
2. Prahlad Friedman – 382,700
3. Thuy Doan – 254,400
4. Mike Krescanko – 248,500
5. Bryan Devonshire – 230,200
6. Corwin Mackey – 212,500
7. Billy Baxter – 209,300
8. Sergei Veytser – 207,200
9. Toto Leonidas – 195,300
10. Gary Klonsley – 181,100
Billy Baxter is a seven-time WSOP bracelet winner who won No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball events in 1975, 1978, 1982, 1987, and 1993. More recently, he made the final table of a Deuce to Seven Triple Draw event in 2008 for $15,000. All told, Baxter has piled up over $1.1 million in WSOP tournaments and made a deep run in the 2007 Main Event.
Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire and Corwin “mig.com” Mackey are two top-tier online poker players. Both have also had success on the live felts. Devonshire was the runner-up to Alex Kravchenko in an Omaha High-Low Split Eight or Better event during the 2007 WSOP for $140,000. Mackey won a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2007 for his first bracelet, banking $730,000 and defeating Stuart Fox heads-up.
Other notable names remaining in the WPT Legends of Poker include:
14. Nick Schulman – 160,000
17. Kevin Schaffel – 152,000
22. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 144,000
25. Greg “FBT” Mueller – 139,900
28. Carter “ckingusc” King – 122,700
31. Adam “Roothlus” Levy – 116,200
36. Daniel Negreanu – 92,600
39. Jonathan Little – 91,200
59. Lee Markholt – 53,700
65. Scotty Nguyen – 45,100
Play will resume today at 3:00pm PT and a winner will be crowned on Wednesday.