WPT Championships Day 1b Update and Photos

Dr. Pauly’s daily report from the WPT Championship $25K final event of the Bellagio’s 5 Star World Poker Classic with Flipchip photos—Ed.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Sunday’s feature table

Action continued at the Bellagio for Day 1b of the WPT Championships. The second flight included 336 players for a total number of 640 entrants. That’s a record number of players for the WPT Championships along with a record setting prize pool of close to $15.5 million. Out of that number, $3.97 million is going to the first place winner. The top 100 places will make the money.

Much more after the jump…

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth offers advice to Eric Seidel

Day 1b featured several of the biggest names in poker such as David Benyamine, Sam Farha, Billy Baxter, Chip Reese, Huck Seed, Clonie Gowen, Sam Grizzle, Nick Shulman, Daniel Negreanu, Erica Schoenberg, Chau Giang, Greg “FTB” Mueller, Antonio Esfandiari, Erick Lindgren, CK Hua, Daniel Heimiller, Young Phan, Melissa Hayden, Scotty Nguyen, John Phan, Patrik Antonious, Bill Chen, Joseph Beevers, Mike Gracz, The Grinder, Ed Moncado, Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, Erik “Erik123” Sagstrom, Paul Wasicka, Jen Tilly, Rob Hollink, Mike Matusow, Layne Flack, Max Pescatori, Quinn Do, Gavin Griffin, Steve Zolotow, John D’Agostino, Phil Laak, Carlos Mortensen, Mimi Tran, Amir Vahedi, Minh Ly, Stuart Paterson, Mark Seif, Surinder Sunar, Bill Gazes, Nam Le, JC Tran, Allen Cunningham, Freddy Deeb, Mark Newhouse, Emad Tahtouh, Marco Traniello, Todd Brunson, Mark Gregorich, Allen Kessler, David Oppenheim, Dewey Tomko, Tex Barch, Kathy Liebert, Erik Seidel, Humberto Brenes, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman, Jim McManus, Isabelle Mercier, Thomas Wahlroos, Hassan Habib, David Singer, Bob Stupak, Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen, Toto Leonidas, Lee Watkinson, Bruno Fitoussi, Ted Forrest, Devilfish, Vinny Vinh, and Don Zewin. They were all hoping to make the cut and survive the first five levels in order to advance to Day 2.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Dewey Tomko playing the WPT

The Buzz

It was a relatively quiet day but most of the players were talking about the record setting prize pool. Some players wanted only the top 65 or 70 players to get paid, while others complained that the Bellagio or the WPT should have added on $30,000 to the prize pool so the first place winner would take home an even $4 million.

Here’s the payout list:
1: $3,970,415
2: $2,011,135
3: $1,082,920
4: $696,220
5: $464,110
6: $309,405
7: $278,465
8: $247,525
9: $216,585
10: $185,645
11-15: $154,705
16-20: $123,670
21-30: $92,820
31-40: $77,350
41-50: $61,880
51-100: $46,410

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Doyle Brunson

The Back Story

Day 1b’s field included some of the best poker players in the world. Several WSOP Champions were in the mix including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, and Huck Seed. Not to mention at least 21 multiple WSOP bracelet winners including Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), Erik Seidel (7), Billy Baxter (7), Layne Flack (5), Ted Forrest (5), Huck Seed (4), Scotty Nguyen (4), Allen Cunningham (4), Daniel Negreanu (3), Chip Reese (3), Chau Giang (3), Dewey Tomko (3), Bill Chen (2), Mile Matusow (3), Minh Nguyen (2), Carlos Mortensen (2), Sam Farha (2), Humberto Brenes (2), Pat Poels (2), and Steve Z (2).

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Gavin Griffin

Sight of the Day

2007 EPT Grand Finale champion Gavin Griffin showed up to the Bellagio with pink hair. He originally dyed it to help raise awareness for breast cancer research. His girlfriend is a breast cancer survivor and the two participated in a 37 mile walkathon as a fundraiser.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

David “Devilfish” Ulliot

Quote of the Day

“Devilfish? You are more like little fish!” yelled Vinny Vinh to Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot. The two players were jawing back and forth all afternoon and evening.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com
Isabelle Mercier

Noteworthy Stacks

Sam Farha was the first player past the 200K mark. Also sitting on 100K or more are Tim Phan, Isabelle Mercier, David Benyamine, Shawn Buchanan, Paul Wasicka, and Praz Bansi.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Jennifer Tilly

Big Named Bustouts

Ted Forrest busted out on the second hand of the tournament when his Aces were cracked by a set of Queens. Also failing to advance were Antonio Esfandiari, Ed Moncada, Emad Tahtouh, Marco Traniello, Layne Flack, Jen Tilly, Max Pescatori, Nenad Medic, Nam Le, Phil Laak, Erik Seidel, Clonie Gowen, The Grinder, Joe Pelton, Bill Edler, and Eugene Todd.

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Max Pescatori

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

Connie Kim

photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

The new rings

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