Ami Alibay bagged the overnight chip lead after Day 2 of the inaugural WPT at Venetian Main Event, the player vies for first WPT title
The Venetian, one of the glitziest resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, is hosting a WPT Main Tour event for the very first time. Poker action has been in full swing at the casino floor of the property over the past few days, with a field of 734 entries coming down to the final 73 contenders for the title and the first-place prize.
The $3,500 buy-in WPT at Venetian Main Event generated a prize pool of $2,333,800. The prize money was split into payouts for the top 92 finishers. The money bubble burst late last night toward the end of Day 2 of the tournament. Kfir Nahum was the first player to depart with a payout from the inaugural edition of the event, collecting a min-cash of $5,600 at the payout desk.
As mentioned above, there were 73 players to bag and tag for the night at the end of Day 2 on Sunday night. They will return at the host casino today at noon local time to battle for the title and the first-place prize of $431,655.
Ami Alibay will lead the final 73 hopefuls into the third day of action. Making it into the money of the WPT at Venetian, the player secured his fifth cash from the series.
Day 2 Highlights
Alibay put 1.26 million worth in chips in his bag at the end of Day 2. The player kept building his stake throughout the day to eventually surge into the chip lead, sneaking past Mark Ioli who will start the third day of play with 1.214 million in chips. Alibay is vying for his first title from the series.
There were a number of WPT Champions Club members who secured a seat among the Day 3 entrants. Freddy Deeb, Matt Salsberg, Tony Tran, and Nam Le were among those who had previously captured a WPT Main Tour Main Event title and are still in the hunt for a new accomplishment in the series.
WPT Commentator Tony Dunst is battling for his second WPT title. He bagged and tagged 355,000 last night to secure a spot among the remaining hopefuls.
The survivors will take their seats around the poker tables of The Venetian at noon Las Vegas time. They will play down to the final two tables. The winner is to be determined on Tuesday, March 26. The final table of the WPT at Venetian Main Event will not be televised, which means that it will be played at the host venue and not at the HyperX Esports Arena at Luxor, where the series’ televised final tables are set to be played from the current WPT season onward.
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