WPT LA Poker Classique

Par BJ Nemeth

Au début de la journée 1, il y avait environ 450 players, and that number increased to 666 by the end of that day. Registration remained open overnight until the start of Day 2, and the field eventually filled out to 681 joueurs.

À la fin de la journée 2, the field had diminished to 238 players, and the tentative plan is to play long enough to burst the money bubble on Day 3. Haut 63 finira dans l'argent, gagnant au moins $22,230, while the winner of this event will take home $1,654,120.

Avec une pile moyenne autour de 85,500, here's a look at the top 10 players on the leaderboard:

1. Joe DeNiro - 366,700
2. James Carroll - 264,800
3. Jason Senti - 258,200
4. Mike Sowers - 252,500
5. Michael Mizrachi - 227,600
6. Nikolaï Evdakov - 213,200
7. Carlos Mortensen - 204,900
8. Evan McNiff - 203,100
9. Allen Cunningham - 196,400
10. Ted Jivkov - 195,900

Et maintenant, un retour photographique sur la Journée 2 of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic:


Même si Phil Ivey had a short stack in the second-to-last level of the day, everyone at the table folded to his preflop raise, forfeiting the blinds and antes. They may have been afraid of doubling up the player generally considered to be the best in the world, but it didn't matter, as Ivey eventually built his stack to finish the day with a nearly average stack of 76,500.


Double vainqueur du WPT Freddy Deeb était l'un des 24 joueurs qui ont sauté la journée 1 entièrement pour commencer la journée 2 with the starting stack of 30,000 en chips (75 big blinds). Deeb finished the day with a slightly-below-average stack of 64,400.


Fille Quinte Flush Royale Sunisa Kim checks out the field in the middle of Day 2. Jour 1 started with about 450 players, but when registration finally closed at the start of Day 2, the final tally was 681.


En tant que champion du WPT Borgata Poker Open Pèlerin de Dwyte tire dans un pot, you can see he is wearing his WPT winner's bracelet and two of his four WSOP Circuit rings. Unfortunately, Pilgrim won't be adding a matching bracelet to his other wrist, as he was eliminated in the middle of Day 2.


Erik Seidel a connu un début très chaud en 2011, finishing top four in three different high-roller events and winning one of them. Seidel has already cashed for more than $3.4 million this year, and he has the potential to cross the $5 million mark pour l'année if he wins this event. Of course, there is still a long way to go for that to happen, and Seidel finished the day with an average stack of 83,300.


Ancre WPT Kimberly Lansing (à droite) entretiens Kara Scott during one of the breaks. Scott's t-shirt shows the "Four Little Ponies of the Apocalypse," which is probably the most menacing version of the classic childhood toy "My Little Pony" that you'll ever see. Scott finished the day with 40,500, which is about half the average stack.


Dans l'avant-dernier niveau de la journée, Vivek Rajkumar moved his short stack all in on the river with the board showing [Kd10d10c6cQd]. His opponent eventually folded, and Rajkumar took the pot. This may have been a turning point for Rajkumar, who finished the day among the top 15 avec 176,100.


Steve Chanté, who just missed his fourth televised WPT final table a year ago when he finished eighth in this event, is a tough player with a very quiet presence at the table. Sung heads into Day 3 avec une pile moyenne de 88,500.


Joe Hachem (à droite) j'ai bien ri de Liz Lieu when he proclaimed that he finally figured out why so many young online players wear sunglasses -- "It's because they're all high." Hachem finished the day above average with 135,000, while Lieu finished with a below-average stack of 50,700.


André Lichtenberger, more famously by his online name "Lucky Chewy," moves all in preflop during the last level, and doubled up when his [Jh10h] made a heart flush. Unfortunately, he gave some of it back by the end of the day, finishing with 19,200 (16 (gros blindes).


Nam Le final tabled this event back in Season VI (the year Phil Ivey won), and ultimately finished fourth. Le is among the top 20 en route vers le jour 3 with a double-average stack of 162,100.


Maria Ho, who cashed in this event two years ago, has a smile on her face even with a short stack. Ho finished the day with a less-than-half-the-average stack of 36,200, but with the excellent Matt Savage blind structure, that still represents 30 gros blinds avant le Day 3.


Josh Arieh (à gauche) et Barry Greenstein chat between hands during the last level. Arieh wouldn't be smiling a short while later, when he was eliminated on the last hand of the day. Greenstein, a two-time WPT winner, is still alive but faces an uphill climb on Day 3 avec juste 35,600 en chips.


Jennifer Tilly (à gauche) démonte un pot à opposer à Osmin Dardon on her way finishing the day among the top 15 avec 174,100 in chips. (Dardon was eventually eliminated.) Tilly, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1994, will be spending "Oscar Sunday" on the green felt rather than the red carpet.


Lors du dernier niveau, Joe De Niro emerged as the overwhelming chipleader, finishing with 366,700 -- nobody else is even within 100,000 of him. Despite the famous last name, the New York Yankees cap, and somewhat of a resemblance, DeNiro tells us that he isn't related to actor Robert DeNiro.


Jour 3 commence dimanche à 12:00 le midi. Revenez sur WorldPokerTour.com pour une couverture continue en direct, y compris des mises à jour des mains, des décomptes fréquents de jetons, des interviews vidéo avec Kimberly Lansing et un autre épisode de "The Jess & BJ Show".

Jour 2 comes to an end, and the tournament clock shows an unofficial 239 players who have survived the day. The chipleader appears to be Joe DeNiro with 366,700 -- nobody else seems to be within 100,000. We won't know for sure until the full list of official chip counts is released by the Commerce Casino later this evening. 

Other notables with a lot of chips include actress Jennifer Tilly (174,100) and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (227,600), who became a household name in the poker world when he won this event back in Season III. 

Return to WorldPokerTour.com later tonight for official chip counts, seating assignments, and a photo recap of the Day 2 l'action.

Alex Kamberis raises to 2,300 from middle position and the player in the cutoff reraises to 7,000.  Michael Mizrachi calls from the big blind and Kamberis folds.

Le flop arrive [9d2h2c] and in the blink of an eye the cutoff's last 25,000 are in the middle.  Mizrachi shows [9c9h] for a flopped full house and his opponent shows [KsKd].  The turn brings the [6s] et la rivière la [3s], and Mizrachi tkes the pot, chipping up to just over 200,000.

Andrew Lichtenberger moves all in from the small blind with [Jh10h], and the cutoff calls with [Ac8d]. Le conseil vient [9d6s5h4h9h], and Lichtenberger catches a heart flush to win the pot et doublez vos jetons. 

Andrew Lichtenberger -  39,000

À la fin du dernier niveau, Vivek Rajkumar moves all in on the river with the board showing [Kd10d10c6cQd] on the river. His opponent eventually folded, and Rajkumar took the pot.

Maria Ho chats between hands on Day 2 du WPT LA Poker Classic.


Phil Ivey a un petit tapis, mais les autres joueurs font tout de même tout son possible pour perdre les blinds et les antes.


Kathy Liébert keeps her spirits up late on Day 2, even with a short stack of chips.

Avec près de 17,000 dans le pot et le tableau indiquant [8h6c2s7c], Vanessa Selbst checks out of the big blind, Vivek Rajkumar bets 11,500 on the button, and Selbst check-raises all-in for around 30,000.

Rajkumar calls and shows [7h8c] for top two pair and Selbst turns over [5h6d] for a pair and an open-ended straight draw.  The river brings the [10h] and Rajkumar's two pair are enough to take the pot and bust Selbst.

Vivek Rajkumar - 115,000
Vanessa Selbst - Eliminé

Avec près de 20,000 des chips dans le pot et le tableau indiquant [Jd6c2h3s], Josh Arieh check et son adversaire réfléchit un moment avant de faire tapis, ayant le reste de Arieh 18,000 ou alors couvert.

Arieh prend des appels instantanés et montre [4s5s] pour une quinte haute de six cartes. Son adversaire montre AJ. L'autre joueur est mort au tirage et, après une rivière sans conséquence, Arieh prend la pot et double.

Josh Arieh - 65,000

Michael Mizrachi relance à 2,600 from early position and Dan Heimiller reraises to 7,000.  Mizrachi calls and the flop comes down [Qh5d5s].

Mizrachi checks, Heimiller bets 10,000, et Mizrachi relance à 20,000 total.  Heimiller calls and the turn brings the [Qc] and Mizrachi checks a second time.  Heimiller bets 20,000 and Mizrachi check-raises a second time, making it 40,000 aller.

Heimiller tanks for several minutes, counting his chips and checking his cards.  Eventually, Heimiller mucks his hand and Mizrachi shows the table one card--the [4c].

Michel Mizrachi - 260,000
Dan Heimiller - 55,000

Players are back from their final fifteen-minute break of the night.  There are 290 players remaining.  Blinds are up to 500-1,000 ante 100.  This is the last level of the night. 

L'action se couche jusqu'à David Oppenheim au bouton et il lance tous ses jetons au milieu. Phil Ivey est au big blind et demande un décompte.

Oppenheim has 11,800 and Ivey thinks a minute before calling.  Ivey waits to turn over his cards until Oppenheim shows his holdings.

"Je n'en ai regardé qu'un", admet Oppenheim. "Un as."

"Oh, you're good," Ivey tells him.  Oppenheim sweats his second card before revealing [AsQd].  Ivey turns over [Kc10c].

Le flop tombe [Ah10h3c], giving both players a pair.  Before the turn comes, Ivey smiles ans says, "Boom," suggesting the next card is going to improve his hand.  It does not, as the turn is the [7h].

La rivière apporte le [8h] and Oppenheim gets the double up.

David Oppenheim - 23,000
Phil Ivey - 24,000

Il y a encore beaucoup de joueurs dans cet événement, mais d'après ce que nous pouvons dire, Joe DeNiro est le chip leader pour le moment. Il est le premier joueur à avoir dépassé le 300,00-marque d'éclat et est assis dessus 305,000.

Joseph Cheong's table breaks and he moves to an empty seat at the table that includes Phil Collins, Jon Aguiar, and Jon Eaton, just to name a few.

 He quickly gets involved in the action when Aguiar raises to 2,000 from under the gun and Cheong reraises to 5,600 on the button.  Aguiar calls and they see a flop of [Kh8d8s].  Both players check.

Le tour est le [8c] and Aguiar checks again.  Cheong bets 8,400 and Aguiar calls.  The river is the [Qs] and Aguiar checks a third time.  Cheong bets 26,600 and Aguiar thinks for quite some time before calling.

Cheong montre [AsAh] pour un full de huit as pour remporter le pot. 

Joseph Cheong- 120,000
Jon Aguiar - 33,000

Jennifer Tilly fait tomber un pot à opposer à Osmin Dardon during the early levels of Day 2.

Il s'agit du premier événement WPT pour Shane Schleger après avoir signé son nouvel accord de parrainage.


Fille Quinte Flush Royale Sunisa Kim checks out the field on Day 2 du WPT LA Poker Classic.

Les joueurs reviennent de la pause pour commencer le niveau 9, avec des stores augmentés de 400-800 et 100 avant. Avec 351 players, the average chip count is about 58,200. 

Le jeu continuera aujourd'hui jusqu'à la fin du niveau 10, which should happen around 8:40 16 h 00 HP.

Avec près de 9,000 dans le pot et le tableau indiquant [Jc3c2h], Anh Van Nguyen bets out around 5,000 and Blair Hinkle moves all-in, having Nguyen's remaining 14,900 covered.  Nguyen calls and shows [AsAh] and Hinkle reveals [8c10c] pour un tirage couleur.

The river brings the [Qh] and Nguyen's aces hold to give him the double up on the last hand before break.