Day 1B of the
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship looked a lot like day 1A…only bigger. More players (from 253 to 330) meant more tables (two in the poker room on 1A, 10 on 1B) and the whole equation led to one thing - an $8,482,650 total prize pool.
Yet before any of the numbers became official, the second flight of the
DBNAPC started the same way the first one did, at noon PST with $50-$100 blinds and $30,000 starting stacks.
For the second day in a row, the
DBNAPC provided fans with a field loaded with high-profile poker pros. While nearly every table featured at least one big name star, the draw at table No. 64 in the Fontana Bar read like a
WPT season 5 winner's circle.
Located on the stage overlooking the rest of the playing area, the table included two 2006
WPT runner-up finishers, Harry Demetriou (
Mirage Poker Showdown) and Steve Wong (
Festa al Lago), and a pair of 2006 event champions, Joe Tehan (
Mandalay Bay Poker Championship) and "Jumping" Joe Pelton (
Legends of Poker).
Pelton, who also made the final table at the
Festa al Lago, became 64's first elimination when his rivered straight fell to Noah Boeken's rivered nut flush.
Notables Brandon Cantu, Barry Shulman, Gus Hansen, Roland de Wolfe, Layne Flack, and Jordan Morgan also dropped out of contention during the first half of play.
Victor Ramdin, another
WPT event champion, flirted with an early exit of his own, but made full houses on consecutive all-in hands, starting a run that sent him steadily up the leader board.
At 3:31 p.m., tournament officials announced a 583-player starting field for the
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. With the money bubble set to burst at the tournament's 101st-place elimination, the payouts for the top five places were announced as follows:
1st place - $2,182,075
2nd place - $1,099,430
3rd place - $592,000
4th place - $380,630
5th place - $253,715
For the complete 2006
DBNAPC payout list, please click
here.
Like Ramdin, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger hit the bottom of the leader board in early action, yet recovered to make a strong push into day 2. At one time down to $12,000, Schleger's turnaround started when he reraised all in against Erik Cajelais on an A
K
8
4
board. Cajelais's call with the A
4
gave him two pair, but Schleger's A
8
held when the 2
came on the river.
For the second day in a row, and with nearly five levels of play completed, director Jack McClelland shut off the tournament clock and implemented a hand cap to determine the end of the action.
Seven hands later, at 8:38 p.m. PST, the second flight of the 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship concluded.
For a complete list of chip counts and eliminations please click
here.
Some pros who failed to advance to the tournament's next stage include Erick Lindgren, Sean Sheikhan, David Plastik, Noah Boeken, Joe Bartholdi, Jeff Madsen, Erica Schoenberg, and Men "The Master" Nguyen.
The 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship resumes at noon PST, when the surviving fields from days 1A and 1B, approximately 355 players, return to participate in the tournament's official second day.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and for a news episode of "The Circuit."
Quote of the Day: "All right folks, you have three minutes to stake your favorite railbird" - Tournament Director Jack McClelland at the start of day 1B of the
DBNAPC.
Quote of the Day #2: "I hate everyone" - Mike "The Mouth" Matusow to… everyone.
