2008 WPT World Championship Begins at The Bellagio
April 22nd, 2008
Players from all over the world have gathered in Las Vegas for the season ending WPT World Championship which began on Saturday. The final event in season 6 of the WPT has attracted a lower crowd than expected with only 545 players registering for the first day’s play, well below last year’s 639 entrants.
Last year Carlos Mortensen took home nearly $4 million for winning the WPT World Championship and in the process became the first person to win both the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour Championships. This year’s event has a total prize pool of over $13 million and an expected first prize of over $3 million.
With Day 1 split into two days of action, Day 1A saw plenty of action at the famous tables of The Bellagio, with a number of familiar faces taking part. Amongst the 210 players entered were Doyle Brunson, Brandon Cantu, Erik Seidel, Lee Markholt, Mike Sexton, and Phil Hellmuth.
With only 141 players making it through to Day 2, notable eliminations during the day included David Singer, Scott Clements, Shawn Buchanan, Eric Froehlich, and Jonathan Little.
Day 1B saw the remaining 335 players take to the tables including the likes of Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Michael Mizrachi, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Jennifer Harman, Joe Hachem, Jerry Yang and Sorel Mizzi.
Eliminated during the day were Jennifer Tilly, Gavin Griffin, Theo Tran, Brett Faustman and Mike Vela. The surviving players from Day 1B will join those from Day 1A, 421 in total, for a place in the next round.
Chip stacks for Day 2:
Jeff King - 211,575
Paul Chauderson - 200,900
Kenny Tran - 193,025
Robert Mizrachi - 173,375
Carlos Mortensen - 172,075
Jordan Morgan - 171,750
David Benyamine - 169,350
William Baxter - 167,150
Darrel Dicken - 163,675
Steve Billirakis - 156,800
