Zach Clark Sent To the Rail by Steven Begleiter

Level 8: 500-1,000, 100 ante

Isaac Baron raises to 2,600 and Zach Clark reraises to 19,000, leaving himself with only 10,000 behind.  Steven Begleiter is on the button and makes a fourth raise.  Baron folds and Clark tosses in his two remaining blue chips.

Clark:  88
Begleiter:  KQ

The board comes Q76KJ giving Begleiter two pair and the pot to eliminate Clark from the tournament.

Steven Begleiter - 330,000
Zach Clark (last year's 3rd place finisher) - eliminated

Steven Begleiter Gets an Opponent To Lay Down Aces

Level 8: 500-1,000, 100 ante

On a board of KQ96 and with about 50,000 in the pot, Steven Begleiter open pushes all in for over 200,000.  His opponent has about 100,000 and after a few minutes of deliberation, he tosses his pocket aces face up into the muck.

Steven Begleiter - 275,000

Chip Count Update

Level 8: 500-1,000, 100 ante

All of the chip counts have just been updated in the Chip Count Tab.

With 115 players remaining, here is a look at the top five...

Steven Begleiter -- 265,000
Bryan Devonshire -- 170,000
Josh Schlein -- 165,000
Nick Schulman -- 158,000
Sam Stein -- 146,000

Recent Eliminations:

Matt Keikoan
Jonathan Aguiar
Steve O'Dwyer
Scott Montgomery
Nick Cassavetes

Chip Count Update

Level 7: 400-800, 75 ante

All of the chip counts have just been updated in the Chip Count Tab.

With 135 players remaining, here is a look at the top five...

Steven Begleiter -- 255,000
Alex Golshanara -- 161,000
Bobby Suer -- 160,000
Mike Kamran -- 135,000
Josh Schlein -- 128,000

Recent Eliminations:

Darryll Fish
Danny Wong
Phil Collins
Vanessa Rousso
J.J. Tavares

Chip Count Update

Level 6: 300-600, 50 ante

All of the chip counts have just been updated in the Chip Count Tab.

With about 160 players remaining, here is a look at the top five...

Steven Begleiter -- 220,000
Alex Golshanara -- 135,025
Bobby Suer -- 125,000
Tommy Vedes -- 124,725
Markus Gonsalvez -- 108,600

Recent Eliminations:

Alexandre Gomes
Chad Batista
David Daneshgar
Matt Stout
Justin Scott

Steven Begleiter Flops a Flush

Level 6: 300-600, 50 ante

A player in middle position raises to 1,600 and Steven Begleiter calls out of the small blind as does the player in the big blind. 

The flop comes K94 and action is checked to the orginal raiser who bets 3,800.  Begleiter makes the call and the big blind gets out of the way.

Both players check the 2 on the turn and when the 2 falls on the river Begleiter leads out for 6,000.  His opponent makes a reluctant call and Begleiter turns over Q2 for the flopped flush.

Begleiter takes down the pot and currently at 210,000.  Although he has shaved off about 25,000 from his Day 2 starting stack, he still appears to have the chip lead after almost a level of play.

November Niner Steven Begleiter Dominates Day 1

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

WPT Legends of Poker, Day 1

by BJ Nemeth

Little more than a month after the WSOP Main Event went on a four-month hiatus, one of the "November Nine" players is making a lot of noise at the WPT Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino. 

Steven Begleiter had no results in major tournaments when he made the final nine of the WSOP Main Event, but that might change this week as he finished Day 1 of the WPT Legends of Poker with a dominating chip lead -- nearly 75% more chips than Alex Golshanara in second place.

Begleiter went on an amazing heater over the span of about 10 minutes in the last level of the day, busting three players (including Tim Phan) in rapid fashion to become the only player to cross the 200,000-chip mark.

Two other November Niners entered this tournament. Joe Cada started the day sitting on Begleiter's immediate right, but didn't survive to Day 2. Also playing was Kevin Schaffel, who already has two WPT cashes to his credit. Schaffel looks for his third as he survived Day 1 with an above-average stack of 69,900.

The turnout was smaller than expected, with just 279 players -- the lowest turnout since this event raised the buyin to $10,000 back in 2006.  A top-heavy payout structure will still award $1 million to first, though you can see the big drop among the prizes for the six final tablists: 

1st  -  $1,009,000 + $25,500 entry to WPT World Championship
2nd  -  $471,670
3rd  -  $231,300
4th  -  $144,600
5th  -  $116,225
6th  -  $89,220

The final 27 players will all earn at least $18,285, though the money bubble likely won't be reached until Day 3 on Monday. 

With 183 players surviving, here's a look at the top five chipleaders, along with former WPT winners still in the field. (The average stack is about 45,750.) 

1.  Steven Begleiter  -  235,275
2.  Alex Golshanara  -  135,025
3.  Tommy Vedes  -  124,725
4.  Eugene Katchalov  -  124,150
5.  Sam Stein  -  112,250

14.  Nick Schulman  -  88,000
20.  Jonathan Little  -  81,100
48.  Scotty Nguyen  -  60,300
79.  Scott Clements  -  43,700
83.  Van Nguyen  -  41,300
84.  Alexandre Gomes  -  41,200
101.  Daniel Negreanu  -  36,125
107.  Freddy Deeb  -  35,375
111.  Eric Hershler  -  34,575
113.  Gavin Griffin  -  32,900
131.  Lee Markholt  -  25,950
132.  Layne Flack  -  25,400
143.  Allen Carter  -  23,200

Day 2 begins Sunday at 3:00 pm PT. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for live coverage, chip counts, and video interviews with Amanda Leatherman.

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day - Steven Begleiter

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

New Chipleader: Steven "November Nine" Begleiter

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

Steven Begleiter just went on a major hot streak -- three big hands in the span of about 10 minutes. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he is part of this year's WSOP November Nine. 

We missed the first hand, but it was a big pot that took him over the 100,000-chip mark. The next hand, his opponent was all in on the turn with a straight against Begleiter's set of nines -- and Begleiter filled up on the river to bust him and move up to about 183,000. 

A few minutes later, Begleiter raises under the gun to 1,500, the cutoff calls, and Tim Phan reraises from the button to 5,500. Begleiter reraises to 20,000, the cutoff folds, and Phan moves all in for about 45,000. Begleiter quickly calls with K-K, dominating Phan's A-K. 

The pocket kings hold up for Begleiter, and he eliminates Phan to win another huge pot and build his stack to about 233,500 -- nobody else in the field is even close at this point. 

Steven Begleiter  -  233,500
Tim Phan  -  eliminated