Day 1 of the WPT World Championship was completed last night. The Borgata in Atlantic City plays host to the prestigious event, just as it did last year.
The first day saw a field of 234 entries, of which only 166 survived through all six levels played yesterday and will be returning for Day 2. Players had to pay the amount of $15,400, in order to be able to take part in the event. The official prize pool has not been announced yet, as registration is open through Level 9.
Day 2 of the WPT Championship is to start with Eric Panayiotou as the chip leader. Yesterday, the player managed to collect a total of 262,400 in chips. He is followed by Brian Murphy with 256,600 and David Stefanski with 200,300.
Quite surprisingly, two-time WPT winner Daniel Negreanu was eliminated in Level 6, after playing one level only, as he joined his opponents at Table 1 in Level 5. The player has repeatedly pointed out that he prefers entering events at a later stage.
So far, the Canadian poker pro has taken part in seven WPT final tables and has cashed more than $5.7 million in a total of nineteen WPT events. In September 2004, he won the Borgata Poker Open $10,000 + 300 No-Limit Hold’em event. Only three months later, the player topped the field of the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic $15,000 + 300 WPT Championship No-Limit Hold’em event to claim his second title.
Three-time WPT champion Carlos Mortensen, who also currently tops WPT’s all-time money list with more than $6.4 million in cash from various WPT events, James Woods, Harry Arutyunyan, Steve Gross, Dominik Nitsche, and Larry Ormson were the other players that were seated at Table 1.
As mentioned above, Negreanu left the tournament in Level 6, after he could not hold up against Ormson. He was holding a pair of tens on what turned out to be his last hand against his opponent’s pair of aces. The board showed [4c][2c][2d] on the flop and Ormson bet 20,000. Negreanu raised all-in for 20,450. The pot eventually went to Ormson after the turn ran out [5c] and [Jc] appeared on the river.
Negreanu will not be able to return for Day 2, as the event is a no re-entry one. However, he promised that he will be traveling to Monte Carlo, where the EPT Season 11 Grand Final is to take place from April 28-May 8.
