In any sport, one event serves as the culmination of the entire season. The NFL has the Superbowl, Major League Baseball has the World Series, and the
World Poker Tour has the
WPT Championship. On April 21, a field of 304 players gathered in the Bellagio's Fontana Bar and poker room to participate in day 1A of the most anticipated tournament of the
World Poker Tour year.
Following an introduction by
WPT cocreator Lyle Berman, who announced that the championship marked the series' 100th produced episode, play began at noon PDT with $50-$100 blinds and $50,000 starting stacks.
Like any good championship, day 1A of the
WPT's $25,000 buy-in event showcased some of the most famous faces in the game. At the start of play, one draw in particular stood out amid the star-studded field. The Fontana Bar's table 85 featured Tony Cousineau (seat No. 1), Hoyt Corkins (seat No. 3), Maureen Faduniak (seat No. 4), Tuan Le (seat No. 6), Jamie Gold (seat No. 7), and Scott Clements (seat No. 10).
After losing half his stack to quad kings, Gold recouped the losses in a much-talked about hand against Le. The 2006
WSOP champ moved all in on a J
2
2
7
4
board. When Le folded, stating that he held pocket kings, Gold flipped over 6
3
and raked the pot. Continuing to experience success, Gold's steady climb up the leader board attracted the attention of fellow
World Series winner Phil Hellmuth.
Sitting at adjacent tables, the two pros engaged in some friendly bantering that resulted in, of all things, a prop bet. In response to Hellmuth's ribbing, Gold guaranteed day 1A survival, and the 2006 champ gave the "Poker Brat" 3-to-1 odds on the $5,000 wager. At the close of action, Gold not only finished among the day's chip leaders, but also collected his $15,000 prize.
While Gold and Hellmuth garnered attention for their extracurricular activities, Anna Wroblewski became a story for her success at the table. Coming off a win at the $3,000 prelim event, Wroblewski notched a series of wins, including a bustout of Jeff Madsen, en route to becoming one of the first players to crack the $100,000 mark.
The 21-year-old poker pro maintained her big stack, and ended play near the top of the leader board.
At 8:30 p.m., tournament directors turned off the clock, and placed a three-hand cap on play. Nine minutes later, day 1A of the 2007
WPT Championship concluded.
Of the 220 plus survivors, some of the notables who advanced were Phil Ivey, Shannon Shorr, Lyle Berman, Isaac Haxton, Jeff Cabanillas, Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby, Daniel Alaei, Marcel Luske, Hoyt Corkins, Gavin Smith, Joe Sebok, Kristy Gazes, Phil Hellmuth, Martin de Knijff, Juha Helppi, Amnon Filippi, Liz Lieu, Barry Greenstein, and defending champion Joe Bartholdi.
The list of day 1A casualities included Brian Townsend, John Hennigan, Jordan Morgan, T.J. Cloutier, Kenna James, Tuan Le, Tim West, Alex Jacob, Men "The Master" Nguyen, David "The Dragon" Pham, and Shane Schleger.
For a complete list of chip counts and eliminations please click
here.
The 2007
WPT Championship resumes at noon with day 1B.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, videos, photos, and daily recaps.
Quote of the Day: "Come on, I'm only an hour and a half late. To me that's early." - Phil Hellmuth.
