October 29 2011, Brett Collson

Day 1 of the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods saw 185 players pony up $10,000 to compete in one of the most celebrated stops on the World Poker Tour. Only 144 players managed to survive the opening day, but four more players took advantage of the late registration on Day 2 to generate a total field of 189, and a prize pool of $1,778,300. A top prize of just under $450,000 will go to the winner, and 27 players will earn a minimum payday of $19,916.

The leaders heading into Day 3 include Dan Colpoys and reigning WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger, who is second among the 66 players who survived Day 2. Others taking healthy stacks into Day 3 are Peter Politano, Chris Klodnicki, Steven Brackesy, Christian Harder and Thomas Schreiber, all of whom will take more than 100 big blinds into Saturday.

Colpoys finished Day 2 as the leader with 246,000 chips, but it wasn’t an easy path to the top. In one of the largest pots of the day, Colpoys got just under 80,000 chips in the middle holding on a board of . His opponent, Jack Kashishian, called with for two pair, but the fell on the river to give Colpoys a set of aces and a double-up.

Frankenberger began the day fourth in chips and continued his climb by picking off a pair of bluffs with just ace-high. According to the World Poker Tour Live Updates Team, Frankenberger called a double-barrel bluff on a board with just and then checked the on the river to win a pot worth more than 26,000. Then, Frankenberger had the same two cards and called a river bluff on a ten-high paired board to scoop a pot of more than 62,000, putting him among the overall leaders.

Christian Harder had a roller coaster day but still managed to finish sixth overall when play ended Friday night. After tripling his starting stack early in the day, Harder lost a 200,000-chip pot to Darren Elias to send him back where he started at just under 50,000. Harder cold-four-bet with pocket aces preflop and Elias and Kyle Loman called to see a flop of . Loman checked, and Harder moved all-in, having both players covered. Elias called instantly and, after Loman got out of the way, tabled for middle set. Harder had two outs for the win but came up empty, giving Elias a massive double-up. Elias, however, lost nearly half his stack before the end of the day.

Others still alive entering Day 3 include Kathy Liebert, David Sands, Allen Kessler, Jason Mercier, Bernard Lee, Dwight Pilgrim, Matt Glantz, Erik Seidel, and former WPT Finals champions Hoyt Corkins, Cornel Cimpan, Jonathan Little and Jeff Forrest. Among the notables exiting on Day 2 were Dan Shak, David Williams, Cliff Josephy, Todd Terry, Steve Brecher, Tony Dunst, and current WPT Player of the Year leader Will Failla.

On Saturday, play will resume at 1200 EDT (1600 GMT) and conclude after five levels of action. Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks entering Day 3:

Top 10 End of Day 1 Chip Counts

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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August 01 2011, Chad Holloway

To say the World Poker Tour’s Season IX was a success would be an understatement. Halfway through the season, the show, which airs Sunday nights on FSN, reported a 35 percent increase in viewers, and last week, the WPT reported that the recent Hollywood Poker Open episode attracted over 1 million viewers.

Season IX coverage culminated with the $25,000 buy-in WPT World Championship. The event, which originally took place May 14-20, 2011, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, drew 220 entrants and created a prize pool of $5,309,500. First place was guaranteed $1.6 million.

In the first installment of a two-part broadcast, the WPT production team kicked things off with a recap of the events leading up to the final table. Needless to say, the prestigious event drew a plethora of big-name poker players including Mike Matusow, Andy Frankenberger, Vivek Rajkumar, Roberto Romanello, Eric Baldwin, and reigning champ David Williams. By the end of Day 1, 50 players had hit the rail and Christian Harder emerged as the chip leader with 249,975.

Tony G and Phil Hellmuth were among the late registrants for Day 2, but neither was able to get much going. When players bagged and tagged their chips at the end of the day, Abe Mosseri led the remaining 116 players with a 685,200-chip stack. On Day 3, the field was reduced quickly, and Randal Flowers, Eugene Katchalov, Phil Galfond, Daniel Negreanu, and Joe Bartholdi were among those who hit the rail, leaving just 52 players.

Headed into Day 4, everyone had their eyes set on cracking the top 27 and making the money. Former champions David Chiu and Yevgeniy Timoshenko both fell short of a payday, as did Frankenberger, the WPT Player-of-the-Year points leader. Unfortunately for poker pro Hafiz Khan, he earned the distinction of bubble boy since he was eliminated in 28th place. Here’s a look at some of the more notables names who cashed:

Interestingly, Sam El Sayed’s elimination in eighth place ensured Frankenberger would become the WPT Season IX Player of the Year, while David Peters’ bustout in seventh brought us to the coveted final table. Here are how things stacked up at the top of this week’s broadcast.

WPT World Championship Final Table

Seat 1: Galen Hall (5,040,000)
Seat 2: Justin Young (1,635,000)
Seat 3: Tony Gargano (4,130,000)
Seat 4: Roger Teska (3,910,000)
Seat 5: Scott Seiver (4,870,000)
Seat 6: Farzad Bonyadi (2,415,000)

First Hand: With the blinds at 30,000/60,000, Roger Teska raised to 120,000 from the button with and received a call by Scott Seiver who was holding in the small blind. Both players proceeded to check the flop, bringing about the turn.

Again Seiver checked, but this time Teska bet 150,000. Seiver made the call and then checked the river. Teska bet again, this time 400,000, and Seiver paid it off. First hand to Teska.

Aces in the Big Blind: With blinds at 40,000/80,000, Galen Hall looked down at under the gun and raised to 160,000. Action folded to Farzad Bonyadi in the big blind and he squeezed out . He paused for a moment before moving all-in for 1,115,000. Hall asked for a count before making the call. Bonyadi was a 92 percent favorite and was never in any danger. The board ran out . Just like that, Bonyadi doubled to 2.33 million.

Huge Pot for Bonyadi: On what would be Hand #42 of the final table, Roger Teska raised to 100,000 from the button with and was called by Farzad Bonyadi holding in the big blind. It was heads up to the flop, which saw Bonyadi check-call a bet of 125,000. The turn saw Bonyadi check-call another bet, this time 350,000, leading to the on the river. Bonyadi checked for the third time in a row, Teska decided to execute his bluff to completion with a bet of 650,000, and Bonyadi simply said, “I call.” It was the right choice and Bonyadi raked in the 2.76 million pot.

Justin Young Eliminated in Sixth Place: Three hands later, on Hand #45, action folded to Galen Hall on the button and he raised to 205,000 holding . Justin Young was in the small blind and raised to 550,000 with . Tony Gargano got out of the way in the big blind, Hall moved all-in, and Young called off for 2.5 million.

Young was in a tough spot and only had a 25 percent chance of winning the hand. The meant Young could chop with a deuce, but neither the turn nor river proved fruitful. Young was eliminated in sixth place and earned $225,654 for his performance. “Today I played OK,” Young said after his elimination. “When I three-bet Galen there, I was kind of hoping he would push, but he did it so confidently it made me kind of second guess myself for a second, but I still got what I wanted. It’s just unfortunate he woke up with ace-king.”

The Raw Deal: Tony Dunst was back with his popular segment, The Raw Deal. He discussed the WPT Season IX as a whole. Dunst explained that there were some important lessons to be learned from the season, including, having a plan, thinking about exactly what hands you’re trying to fold out when bluffing, and looking for opportunities to thin value bet.

Tony Gargano Eliminated in Fifth Place: It didn’t take long for the next elimination to occur, just one hand in fact. On Hand #46, Scott Seiver was under the gun and min-raised to 200,000. Action folded around to Tony Gargano in the small blind and he shipped his entire stack of 2,020,000 in the middle. After the big blind folded, Seiver snap-called and the cards were turned over.

Showdown
Gargano:
Seiver:

Seiver, who was a 70 percent favorite to win the hand, had Gargano in bad shape. The flop gave Seiver a pair of aces and left Gargano drawing to runner-runner for a straight. Unfortunately for him, the turn left him drawing dead. The meaningless was put out on the river as Gargano hit the rail in fifth place for $278,749.

Tune in Next Week: Next Sunday FSN will air Part II of the WPT’s Season IX World Championship. Be sure to check your local listings. If you happen to miss it, don’t forget you can read the recap right here on PokerNews.

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