WPT Legends of Poker

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Legends Day 1b Recap: Like Riding The Bike

You would be hard pressed to find a more exciting place to be than Day 1b of the WPT Season 7 Legends of Poker main event at the Bicycle Casino in tranquil Bell Gardens, California today.

Instead of the meager 161 runners that showed for the first day one Saturday, the ballroom at the back of The Bike played host to 212 rounders today and with much of poker's elite in attendance the action was attention grabbing to say the least.

The highlight of the first level would have to be considered Phil Ivey proving to the entire poker world that he doesn't give a damn about $10k or a Season 7 WPT Legends of Poker title. Phil showed up, ordered a little lunch and then proceeded to shove blind once he got half way through his chicken dinner.

One opponent claimed he folded pocket tens as Ivey showed 3-4 off making this player's next decision an easy one after Phil offered up another no-look shove and he woke up with pocket kings. Drawing dead by the turn with just 2-3 off, Ivey told PL.com on his way out of The Bike that "something came up," and he had to jet.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Phil is widely considered to be among the toughest tournament pros on the planet when he puts his mind to it. Here at Legends he chose not to and the survivors of the two day ones should be thankful for at least that.

A number of other top pros also hit the bricks throughout the action today including Daniel Alaei, Jean-Robert Bellande, Justin Bonomo, David Levi, Ralph Perry, Jennifer Tilly, David Williams, Scott Clements, Amir Vahedi, Theo Tran, Alex Bolotin, Chad Batista, Scott Freeman and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein managed to make a little noise in the early going. He found a flopped set of sevens was enough to crack an opponent's aces and vaulted into the chip lead in the first few levels with over $70,000 in chips. But even Barry could not catch Ali Eslami, who became the first player over the $100k mark during the third level and closed the day with close to $160,000. It looks as though Eslami will start Day 2 with the absolute chip lead over Day 1a chip leader Adam Weinraub and his $150k+.

Neither should consider themselves too comfortable, however, as the legendary Freddy Deeb made a late surge to finish off Day 1b with around $100k.

The last woman standing at the 2007 WSOP Main Event, Maria Ho will be looking for a more impressive title here at Legends and with a stellar day behind her, Ho will start Day 2 among the leaders. About half way through the day Ho found herself filling a seat at one of the toughest tables in the room including the likes of Phil Laak, Van Nguyen, Allen Cunningham, David Williams and Michael Binger.

Tough road to Ho.

But it was 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Robert Cheung who proved to be the toughest competition at this table of doom running his stack into the $80k range before clashing with Ho. She found four diamonds on a board while holding the K to change both Cheung's and her own fate rather quickly and began the last level of the night with over $80,000. She ended the day with a more than $100k.

Phil Laak survived to Day 2, but probably made more noise off the poker table than on making a prop bet with Allen Cunningham that he could juggle three apples for over one minute during the fourth level. Laak managed to complete the feat proving that A) He can juggle B) He is a degenerate gambler and C) You don't have to play great poker to make it into a PL.com recap blog.

November Niner Kelly Kim got on the road to proving his Main Event final appearance is no fluke with the day he had at Legends Sunday. He hit a high water mark of $70k late in the day with one of those spectacular kings over queens scenarios we all love so much and will ride into The Bike on Day 2 in fine shape.

A number of other top pros had top days here as well including Mark Seif, Mark Newhouse, Matt Graham, Tuan Le and Allen Cunningham.

Comeback Flack!

A late surge by Layne Flack puts him on that list while Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu headlines a host of other big names who struggled but survived through their first day at Legends. They include Brandon Cantu, Kathy Liebert, Tom Schneider and Theo Tran.

Poker's only EPT, WPT and WSOP triple crown winner, Gavin Griffin, looked to make that list as well, but couldn't hold on in the late stages of the day's final level.

In the end approximately 140 players survived the day and they will join the 106 who got through Day 1a when Day 2 kicks off just after 2 p.m. PST Monday live from The Bike. Rumor has it they will play six levels Monday and PL.com will be here for it all. We suggest you follow along closely at home because the poker gods are sure to strike down those that don't.