The much-anticipated 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship kicked off this weekend, marking the beginning of the end of WPT Season XIII. High Roller events aside, the WPT Championship is the most expensive tournament of the season with a $15,000 + $400 buy-in. 234 players signed up on Saturday with another five registering late on Sunday, bringing the total field to (hold on, let me do the math…) 239 players. After just two days of play, only 68 competitors remain, led by Michael Rocco with 439,500 chips. Jonathan Jaffe is close behind with 428,000.
With those 239 entries, the official prize pool for the WPT World Championship is $3,462,050 with nearly one million dollars going to the winner. Here is the entire payout structure:
1st: $973,683
2nd: $573,779
3rd: $330,358
4th: $267,764
5th: $208,647
6th: $173,873
7th: $139,098
8th: $104,324
9th: $69,549
10th-12th: $45,207
13th-15th: $38,252
16th-18th: $34,775
19th-27th: $31,297
The first place prize figure also includes a $15,400 into next year’s WPT World Championship.
Michael Rocco certainly performed well throughout Day 2 to make it up to the chip lead, but a late hand put him over the top. According to the WPT.com report, Leonard Benitez bet 6,000 pre-flop, Rocco and Scott Clements called, and then Dominik Nitsche raised all-in for 45,800. Rocco was the only one to make the call, showing pocket Tens. Nitsche revealed A-J and the race was on. The board ended up as all low cards, sealing the deal for Rocco and eliminating Nitsche.
A side story that developed on Day 2 was the crowning of Anthony Zinno as the Season XIII World Poker Tour Player of the Year. He was battling Darren Elias, entering the WPT World Championship with a 2,056.15 to 1,777.85 lead in the points standings. Jared Jaffee was in third, but was already mathematically eliminated from contention. Both Zinno and Elias won back-to-back WPT titles this season, so it is no wonder they were the top two on the list for POY. Going into this week’s tournament, Zinno had cashed in seven WPT events in Season XIII, while Elias had cashed eight times, a new record. They both cashed in the events the other person won.
Elias was knocked out of the WPT World Championship early on Day 2, meaning he could not earn enough POY points to catch Zinno, making Anthony Zinno the Season XIII World Poker Tour Player of the Year.
Day 3 of the World Championship has just gotten underway at the Borgata in Atlantic City, where it has now been held for the second straight year after more than a decade at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
World Poker Tour World Championship – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Michael Rocco – 439,500
2. Jonathan Jaffe – 428,000
3. Corey Hochman – 398,000
4. Brian Murphy – 380,500
5. Simon Lam – 337,500
6. Konstantinos Nanos – 326,000
7. Brian Yoon – 309,500
8. Sang Kim – 304,500
9. Keven Stammen – 303,000
10. Jake Schindler – 292,500
