The WPT Tournament of Champions, which represents the jewel in the crown of the WPT season was set aside solely for those who had already proved themselves champions. A total of 66 former WPT champions paid the $15,000 buy in, generating a prize pool of $1,090,000. Audi ensured there was a cherry on top of the prize pool in the form of an Audi S5 Coupe. The winner of this event will take home $381,500.
Day 2 fallers
Marvin Rettenmeier, who began the second day with a precarious sized chip stack fell early in the second day, and was followed soon after by the more surprising bust out of Scott Seiver. Seiver had bagged up a comfortable stack at the end of the first day, but found himself stuck in an inescapable downward spiral throughout day 2.
Another player who failed to reach the final table today is Ryan Riess. Having earned his right to play in this event a couple of days ago, he struggled to build a meaningful stack during the first day. The former WSOP Main Event champion briefly managed to put together a playable stack early on day 2, but was sent to the rail soon after. James Romero bagged up the second largest stack at the end of day 1, but much like Seiver, had a nightmare day, eventually busting in 20th place. Jonathan Little fell a couple of places short of the money in 11th. Our bubble player for this event is Lee Markholt.
The three players who cashed with a top 9 finish but fell short of the final table are Jonathan Jaffe, Jesse Sylvia, and Stefan Schillhabel.
The two most notable names remaining in the field, in the form of Erik Seidel and Michael Mizrachi both made it to the final table.
The final table line-up
Seat 1 – Michael Mizrachi
Having entered the final table of the Tournament of Champions 2nd in chips last year, the irrepressible Mizrachi has replicated that exact same feat today. Since the end of day 1 he has been a serious force in this event, and will sit down with 699,000 tomorrow.
Seat 2 – Daniel Weinman
Having slipped somewhat under the radar in the earlier part of this tournament, Weinman’s quiet accumulation of chips has seen him put together a formidable stack of 872,000 which is good enough for the chip-lead going into the final table. He won his seat in this event by taking down WPT Borgata in January for $892,433. He also has a WSOP Circuit title to his name.
Seat 3 – David Ormsby
299,000 chips puts Ormsby 5th in the chip counts at this point, but 30 big blinds is by no means critically short, and he will have a fighting chance if he can start moving in the right direction when the cards hit the air. If he wins tomorrow, he will eclipse his best ever score of $278,426 which he picked up for his WPT Fallsview Poker Classic victory.
Seat 4 – Daniel Santoro.
Having been one of the biggest chip stacks in the room for quite some time during the second day, Santoro may be slightly disappointed to be coming back for day 3 as the short stack. But with 250,000 chips (25 big blinds) anything is still possible. Santoro’s biggest win is the $449,910 he took home for winning the World Poker Finals event in 2011.
Seat 5 – Erik Seidel
The 8-time WSOP bracelet winner has looked strong throughout this tournament and always looked a good bet to be one of the finalists. He will be one of the stars of the show tomorrow, and has a healthy stack of 540,000 to work with. If he manages to claim this title he will move within $900,000 of Daniel Negreanu on the all-time money list.
Seat 6 – Dylan Wilkerson
He may be one of the lesser known players at this final table, but against a field bursting with talent Wilkerson has emerged with a strong chip-stack of 641,000 which puts him in a comfortable position going into the final table tomorrow. Wilkerson has a WSOP Circuit event victory to his name, along with a WPT win and almost $2.2 million in live cashes.
More: WPT Tournament of Champions – Full Coverage
Article by Craig Bradshaw
