The World Poker Tour is putting the “world” back in its moniker lately, and its latest stop at the Kings Casino at the Corinthian Hotel in Prague, the Czech Republic, has proven to be a huge success.
Two Day Ones played out over Thursday and Friday and, by the end of registration on Day 1B Friday, the field that had come together was astounding. The €3500 buy in didn’t seem to keep anyone away and, as the final registration bell crept closer, there was the realization that this might be the biggest event ever for the WPT in Europe. Once the late registration period had expired, that notable achievement was achieved.
568 players stepped to the felt in Prague, breaking the record set last season by the WPT tournament in Vienna (555 players), building a prize pool of slightly more than €1.75 million. 63 players would be able to walk away from the picturesque city on the banks of the Vltava River with the minimum cash of slightly more than €6400, but there is a larger prize that all were in the hunt for. The eventual champion of this tournament will walk off with €450,000, a seat at the WPT Championship next year and have their name etched for eternity into the Champions’ Cup.
The story of Day 1B was noted journeyman professional Casey Kastle, who was a dominant force throughout the action on Friday. Kastle, who ranks in the Top Ten in cashes on the WPT, meticulously built his stack throughout play on Day 1B, but got a tremendous boost to his stack once another pro stepped to his table.
During one of the last hands of Friday night’s session, Kastle and Swedish pro Michael Tureniec – both with well above average stacks – decided they didn’t want to just cruise into the Day Two play. After several raises between the duo, Kastle put his last 170K in chips into the center and found a call from Tureniec. As expected, the hands were huge when turned up – pocket Aces for Kastle, pocket Queens for Tureniec – and, once there were no surprises on the board, Kastle had doubled up for the chip lead and Tureniec was chopped down to 100K in chips.
The Day 1B field actually proved to provide many of the front runners. Along with chip leader Kastle, the United States’ Nikola Sears, Russia’s Karen Saruisyan and American Stephen O’Dwyer (in the hunt for a potential Player of the Year award) held down the two through four spots on the leaderboard. The Day 1A chip leader, the Czech Republic’s Jan Ramik, dropped into the number five spot for the start of Day Two play. In total, 218 players started off play on Saturday still with chips and a shot at a WPT crown.
Day Two play has already begun this morning (afternoon in Prague) with plans in place to play eight levels before calling it a night. With the final table set for play on Monday, the players are wasting little time getting action going on the felt.
One of the early movers on Saturday is Daniel Carter. He eliminated Maksim Semisohenko when, holding Big Slick, Semisohenko made a stand with an A-J of clubs. An Ace came on the flop, but it also contained two clubs. Looking at a bit of a sweat, Carter was able to dodge a club and a jack on the turn and river to knock Semisohenko out of the tournament.
Carter wouldn’t be as fortunate against Jean Marie Vandeborne as, this time, the flush came home to chop some chips out of Carter’s stack. Undaunted, Carter made a brave call on a seemingly innocuous 10-10-5-4-8 board with A-Q to knock out another opponent (who only held K-Q) and move up to 170K in chips.
O’Dwyer and Sears have also already been at each other’s throats, with O’Dwyer coming out on the winning end. On a Q-8-7-4-8 board, O’Dwyer was able to get Sears to call on each of the streets before tabling pocket Aces, which led to a disgusted Sears to chuck his cards into the muck. A few moments later, O’Dwyer would administer the coup de grace to Sears when Steve’s pocket Aces held up against Nikola’s pocket Kings, thrusting O’Dwyer into the lead.
At this moment, here’s how the Top Five line up:
1. Steve O’Dwyer, 500K
2. Casey Kastle, 356K
3. Martins Adeniya, 310K
4. Karen Sarkisyan, 253K
5. Jan Ramik, 215K
If the players don’t start dropping soon, it will be a busy Sunday for the contenders. The final table is set for Monday and, with 188 players currently remaining, there is quite a bit of work to be done before the latest champion on the World Poker Tour is crowned.
