Esfandiari Maintains Massive Chip Lead After Both Starting Days

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

WPT Festa al Lago, Day 1b Recap By Tom Bostic Note: The official chip counts and seating assignments for Day 2 is being posted below this recap. Scroll down the page for the full list. World Poker Tour events at the Bellagio always seem to attract the biggest collection of poker’s elite, and the 2008 Festa al Lago would be no exception. Yesterday Daniel Negranu, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and Phil Helmuth all played. Today we saw Barry Greenstein, Gus Hansen, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Howard Lederer. They were joined by 211 other players on Day 1b, bringing the grand total of registered players to 368. Although smaller in terms of total player than the WPTs last two events, the $15,000 buy-in generated a prize pool larger than both the Borgata Poker Open and the North American Poker Championship. $5,354,400 will be up for grabs, the largest prize pool in Festa al Lago’s history. In total, 50 players will be receiving a payday, capped by the $1.411 million for first place. (Full payouts found under “payout structure” link on the left hand side of the screen.) Twenty-three former WPT winners were in the field today, including a nasty line up at Table 45 that alone had four winners seated at the felt. Rynie Campbell, Nenad Medic, Brandon Cantu and Nick Schulman were joined by other tough competitors in Gabe Thayer, Rob Mizrachi , Michael Binger and later “Miami” John Cernuto. At the end of the day, it would be the winner of the Season V Foxwoods World Poker Finals that rose above the rest, as Nenad Medic has the most successful day at the table finishing with 167,250. That total would be good enough for third for the day, behind only Daniel Schreiber Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Here is a look at the top ten chip counts for the day: 1. Daniel Schreiber - 206,925 2. Brian Rast - 206,225 3. Nenad Medic - 167,250 4. Ryan Young - 156,725 5. Toto Leonidas - 149,775 6. Doug Lee - 144,500 7. Matt Giannetti - 139,950 8. Kasey Nam - 132,075 9. Edward Margolin - 131,600 10. J.C. Alvarado - 129,700 Unfortunately for these participants and the other 145 players that made it through Day 1b, they are still far behind the overall chip leader – Antonio Esfandiari with 313,000. Esfandiari has more that 100,000 that his closest opponent which means he starts Day 2 with a full 129 more big blinds than anyone else. A dangerously deep stack for all others concerned, considering Esfandiari’s primary background in cash games where he is used to wielding a large stack. 256 players in total will return tomorrow for Festa al Lago. The overall picture of the tournament will begin to take shape as we combine flights of Day 1a and 1b together in the Fontana Lounge at 12pm. Blinds will start at 400-800 with a 100 chip ante from each player. Full chip counts and player seating will be posted on the site later tonight. Join us tomorrow for all the action here at worldpokertour.com

Official Seating & Chip Counts For Day 2

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

There are 256 survivors from Days 1a and 1b. Here is the full list of official chip counts, along with their Day 2 seating assignments in parentheses (Table - Seat). 1. Antonio Esfandiari (53-1) - 313,000 2. Nicholas Sliwinski (61-8) - 209,800 3. Daniel Schreiber (54-8) - 206,925 4. Brian Rast (62-8) - 206,225 5. Jennifer Tilly (17-1) - 195,050 6. Jeremiah Vinsant (17-8) - 184,575 7. Andrew Robl (52-5) - 173,450 8. Nenad Medic (16-7) - 167,250 9. Ryan Young (48-2) - 156,725 10. Johannes Van Til (11-8) - 151,000 11. Toto Leonidas (19-2) - 149,775 12. Jason Mercier (53-7) - 145,500 13. Doug Lee (11-5) - 144,500 14. Joe Sebok (50-4) - 142,050 15. Matt Giannetti (64-1) - 139,950 16. Johnny Chan (51-3) - 138,000 17. Kasey Nam (64-5) - 132,075 18. Edward Margolin (47-8) - 131,600 19. J.C. Alvarado (6-5) - 129,700 20. Michael Glasser (48-7) - 127,475 21. Brad Booth (61-7) - 123,500 22. Kagawa Masaaki (52-1) - 123,150 23. Taylor McFarland (47-2) - 123,000 24. Micah Raskin (2-8) - 118,625 25. Isaac Baron (59-3) - 116,825 26. Rock Cloutier (54-9) - 116,175 27. Chau Giang (57-5) - 115,025 28. Clemenceau Calixto (7-3) - 111,675 29. Jason Dorfman (62-3) - 108,975 30. Vivek "Flog" Rajkumar (3-4) - 108,550 31. Susan Landrum (19-6) - 107,775 32. Kevin Albers (52-4) - 107,575 33. Luke Staudenmaier (48-4) - 105,825 34. Allen Cunningham (64-7) - 105,825 35. Blake Cahail (49-2) - 105,575 36. Jeff Bartlett (62-6) - 105,425 37. Tim West (64-6) - 105,275 38. David Chiu (18-4) - 103,300 39. Scott Matte (55-2) - 102,000 40. Olav Prinz Von Sachsen (54-3) - 101,700 41. Liam Hearns (49-7) - 100,950 42. Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier (6-1) - 100,825 43. Alex Keating (6-9) - 99,975 44. Daniel Negreanu (53-5) - 99,325 45. Wayne Boich (7-8) - 98,350 46. Michael DeMichele (2-1) - 97,775 47. Erica Schoenberg (45-8) - 97,750 48. Chad Layne (46-5) - 97,575 49. Matt Stout (52-3) - 97,425 50. Will Failla (16-2) - 96,000 51. Abe Mosseri (49-9) - 95,900 52. Osmin Dardon (17-5) - 94,500 53. Doyle Brunson (18-7) - 94,200 54. Shawn Sheikhan (16-5) - 93,750 55. J.C. Tran (55-7) - 91,550 56. Isaac Haxton (59-1) - 91,225 57. Randall Skaggs (54-7) - 91,075 58. Jason Lester (19-4) - 89,125 59. Keith Ferrera (12-5) - 89,075 60. Matt Hyman (62-9) - 89,000 61. David Kronick (16-8) - 88,675 62. William Mietz (7-5) - 87,000 63. Jonathan Tare (18-3) - 86,650 64. Ralph Perry (19-7) - 86,525 65. Dutch Boyd (18-2) - 86,125 66. Jon Friedberg (16-1) - 86,000 67. Chris McCormack (54-4) - 85,000 68. Jamie Rosen (6-8) - 84,850 69. Freddy Bonyadi (61-6) - 84,300 70. Mike Matusow (2-9) - 83,200 71. Zach Hyman (64-4) - 81,675 72. Steven Levy (54-6) - 81,375 73. Ian Somers (64-8) - 81,275 74. William Heimiller (55-5) - 79,925 75. Shawn Cunix (45-3) - 79,350 76. Stan Wasserkrug (61-9) - 79,125 77. Vinny Pahuja (62-2) - 79,075 78. Patrick Walsh (53-3) - 78,950 79. Ryan Fair (53-9) - 78,850 80. Peter Feldman (49-1) - 77,750 81. Russell Rosenblum (50-6) - 76,925 82. John Hennigan (59-7) - 76,825 83. Alec Torelli (57-2) - 76,450 84. Vincent Bartllo (16-6) - 76,175 85. James Sowers, Jr. (6-7) - 75,975 86. Mike Wattel (7-4) - 75,550 87. Kenny Tran (45-7) - 75,000 88. Joe Ebanks (64-3) - 72,425 89. Gus Hansen (52-7) - 71,400 90. Eileen Kelly (60-5) - 70,700 91. Phil Collins (17-7) - 70,700 92. Erik Cajelais (60-8) - 70,300 93. Jonathan Little (59-4) - 70,250 94. Nam Le (50-1) - 70,150 95. Kevin Boudreau (51-9) - 69,500 96. Emeline Boich (56-1) - 68,650 97. Lee Markholt (47-1) - 67,800 98. Vinny Vinh (46-1) - 67,775 99. Marco Traniello (60-9) - 67,725 100. John Juanda (6-4) - 66,925 101. David Hasson (46-8) - 66,000 102. Peter Neff (12-2) - 65,575 103. Brian Devonshire (48-5) - 65,525 104. Tuan Le (57-1) - 65,000 AVERAGE - 64,687 105. Olivier Busquet (2-2) - 64,375 106. Erick Lindgren (61-2) - 64,225 107. Scott Clements (62-1) - 63,125 108. Zach Clark (3-2) - 62,225 109. Scotty Nguyen (56-5) - 62,050 110. Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke (12-7) - 61,750 111. Steve Sung (51-8) - 61,350 112. David Baker (64-9) - 61,175 113. Phongthep Thiptinnakon (49-6) - 61,025 114. John Janason (45-5) - 60,825 115. Sean Dempsey (19-8) - 60,250 116. Eric Liu (51-2) - 60,000 117. Justin Bonomo (12-3) - 59,675 118. Randy Eklund (3-7) - 59,500 119. Steven Weinstein (53-6) - 59,350 120. Kenny Goldman (45-9) - 59,275 121. Randy Haddox (50-8) - 59,200 122. Narendra Banwari (54-2) - 58,475 123. Thor Hansen (18-6) - 58,225 124. Steve Brecher (7-2) - 57,925 125. Felipe Ramos (53-4) - 57,875 126. Howard Lederer (18-5) - 57,750 127. Scott Seiver (50-3) - 57,250 128. Richard Sciuto (2-3) - 55,575 129. Hoyt Corkins (47-6) - 55,400 130. Ted Lawson (17-3) - 55,000 131. Miami John Cernuto (7-1) - 54,850 132. John Monette (11-6) - 54,800 133. Matt Keikoan (7-6) - 54,275 134. Beth Shak (46-4) - 54,225 135. Steve Fiorentini (11-9) - 54,075 136. Chris Bjorin (51-4) - 53,975 137. Isabelle Mercier (17-6) - 53,375 138. Paul Deng (16-4) - 53,000 139. Michael Peters (56-4) - 52,675 140. Allie Prescott (3-1) - 52,525 141. Kathy Liebert (51-1) - 52,000 142. Gabe Thaler (49-5) - 51,975 143. Adam Junglen (56-7) - 51,925 144. Evan McNiff (60-6) - 51,175 145. Matt Wolf (47-3) - 50,875 146. Paul Kroh (2-6) - 50,525 147. Hevad "Rain" Khan (19-3) - 50,175 148. "Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis (7-7) - 49,825 149. John Roveto (48-1) - 49,500 150. Boris Muchnik (52-8) - 48,975 151. Eric Hershler (57-6) - 48,275 152. David Pham (49-3) - 47,350 153. Karga Holt (18-8) - 46,625 154. Stan Jablonski (12-4) - 46,000 155. Jonathan Aguiar (57-7) - 45,500 156. Devin Porter (49-8) - 44,400 157. Stella Su (54-1) - 44,200 158. Tu Van Huynh (11-7) - 43,575 159. Theo Tran (6-2) - 43,025 160. Thomas Wolfinger (63-9) - 42,800 161. Danny Smith (12-1) - 42,575 162. Matt Brady (55-4) - 41,600 163. Scott Mayfield (59-5) - 41,425 164. Stephen Ladowsky (64-2) - 41,125 165. Markus Gonsalves (57-4) - 41,125 166. Victor Shalom (12-6) - 40,650 167. Joe Cassidy (2-4) - 40,650 168. Robert Mclaughlin (12-8) - 40,050 169. Tony Cousineau (60-1) - 40,000 170. Joshua Plummer (61-4) - 39,550 171. Ron Levi (16-3) - 39,525 172. Thomas Bentham (62-4) - 39,350 173. Blair Hinkle (60-2) - 39,000 174. Daniel Alaei (50-5) - 38,800 175. Ryan Aiken (55-1) - 38,800 176. Erik Seidel (2-5) - 38,550 177. Robert Mizrachi (46-9) - 38,450 178. Jonathan Tamayo (56-6) - 38,425 179. Gary Haglund (59-9) - 38,025 180. Tom West (60-7) - 37,300 181. Will Wilkinson (51-5) - 37,250 182. Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy (3-5) - 36,975 183. Rickey McColley (19-5) - 36,400 184. Alan Smurfit (53-8) - 36,375 185. Tom Nguyen (45-1) - 36,000 186. Chad Brown (3-8) - 35,875 187. Daniel Cordi (63-5) - 35,575 188. Quinn Do (6-6) - 35,125 189. Philipe Rouas (55-9) - 35,100 190. David Peters (6-3) - 35,025 191. Phil Ivey (63-7) - 34,850 192. Jimmy Tran (62-7) - 34,500 193. Roland de Wolfe (18-1) - 34,500 194. Tom McCormick (52-9) - 34,275 195. Barry Greenstein (45-6) - 34,125 196. Nathan Doudney (50-2) - 34,000 197. Shane Schleger (11-3) - 33,150 198. Jennifer Harman (57-8) - 33,125 199. Joe Awada (56-3) - 32,750 200. Tom "Durrr" Dwan (47-5) - 32,625 201. John Myung (2-7) - 32,275 202. Brian Buckley (46-6) - 31,500 203. Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler (60-3) - 31,475 204. Matt Graham (19-1) - 31,225 205. Michele Mcleod (63-8) - 31,050 206. Adam Katz (63-2) - 30,700 207. Mark Newhouse (46-2) - 30,200 208. Bob Slezak (17-2) - 30,100 209. Tony Korfman (45-2) - 30,000 210. Amit Makhija (3-3) - 29,675 211. Sandra Naujoks (50-7) - 28,375 212. Jonathan Honig (49-4) - 27,350 213. Alex Jacob (51-7) - 27,275 214. Jeff Shulman (50-9) - 26,975 215. Ryan Hughes (17-4) - 26,625 216. Greg "FBT" Mueller (63-6) - 26,575 217. Hunter Frey (46-7) - 26,200 218. Alexandre Luz (55-3) - 26,175 219. Michael McClain (59-2) - 25,725 220. Robert Tracey (11-4) - 25,375 221. Mike "SirWatts" Watson (57-9) - 25,050 222. Rodeen Talebi (56-8) - 24,000 223. Daniel Woodward (61-5) - 23,675 224. Adam Levy (3-9) - 23,375 225. Marc Levy (48-6) - 23,150 226. Michael Kucinski (48-9) - 22,475 227. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (60-4) - 22,400 228. Kyle Wilson (59-8) - 22,225 229. Daniel Donati (7-9) - 22,150 230. Charles Kelley (3-6) - 22,150 231. Remy Biechel (48-3) - 21,675 232. Al Adler (53-2) - 21,675 233. Vanessa Rousso (56-9) - 21,300 234. Tony Grappo (63-4) - 21,000 235. Paul Smith (46-3) - 20,875 236. Alan Jaffray (52-6) - 20,750 237. Ben Palmer (59-6) - 20,325 238. Nick Schulman (61-3) - 20,000 239. Fred Berger (47-7) - 19,600 240. Kristy Gazes (57-3) - 19,150 241. Andre Akkari (11-1) - 18,950 242. Chris Bell (47-9) - 18,600 243. Jared Hamby (62-5) - 18,275 244. Corwin Cole (11-2) - 17,525 245. David Benyamine (63-3) - 17,175 246. Jolyne Thompson (48-8) - 16,525 247. Alex Bolotin (51-6) - 15,575 248. Steve Sanzone (54-5) - 14,775 249. Eugene Todd (47-4) - 14,425 250. Joanne "J.J." Liu (55-6) - 14,350 251. Michael Binger (45-4) - 12,500 252. Roman Yitzhaki (63-1) - 11,900 253. Bill Edler (61-1) - 11,125 254. Thomas Burgess (56-2) - 7,450 255. Surinder Sunar (52-2) - 6,900 256. Layne Flack (55-8) - 6,775 Return to WorldPokerTour.com tomorrow (Wednesday) at 12:00 noon PT for live coverage of Day 2, including chip counts, photos, and video interviews with Amanda Leatherman.

Official Day 1b Chip Counts: Top 10

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

The Bellagio staff quickly compiled the full list of chip counts so we'd be able to post them tonight. Here are the top 10 chipleaders from Day 1b: 1. Daniel Schreiber - 206,925 2. Brian Rast - 206,225 3. Nenad Medic - 167,250 4. Ryan Young - 156,725 5. Toto Leonidas - 149,775 6. Doug Lee - 144,500 7. Matt Giannetti - 139,950 8. Kasey Nam - 132,075 9. Edward Margolin - 131,600 10. J.C. Alvarado - 129,700 The full list of chip counts (to be posted soon) will include all 254 survivors from both starting days, including seating assignments. Stay tuned ...

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day - Ryan Young

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Official Chip Counts Later Tonight

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

The Bellagio staff will be releasing the official Day 1b chip counts in a few hours, and they will be posted here as soon as they are available, along with a recap of today's action.

Alex Jacob Gets Unbelievable Respect

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

A player raises preflop, and Alex Jacob moves all in from late position for 13,275. His opponent thinks for a while before folding J-J face up. Jacob is stunned, and briefly flashes Q-Q before tossing it into the muck. After I express surprise at the great laydown, Jacob says, "You'd be more amazed if you had been here all day. That guy never folds." Alex Jacob now has about 20,700.

Six More Hands

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Each table will play six more hands. At that time play will be over for the night and all remaining players will bag and tag their chips until they return for Day 2 tomorrow.

Benyamine Wins with Pocket Tens

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

Shawn Sheikhan opens the pot for a 1,600 raise and Sabyl Cohen re-raises to 5,000 from the small blind. David Benyamine then squezzes his cards and begins staging his chips as if to move all in. Benyamine then decides to simply call the re-raise as Sheikhan gets out of the way. The flop comes QJJ and Cohen quickly fires out 10,000 and Benyamine almost beats her into the pot. The board fills out QJJ46 with both players checking the turn and the river. Cohen shows 6-7 while Benyamine shows 1010, to take down the pot.

Freddy Bonyadi Doubles In Interesting Hand

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante

After a flop of J63 Freddy Bonyadi bets 2,500. Minh Ly raises to 8,500 and Brad Booth cold calls from the button. Bonyadi then moves all-in for 28,000 additional chips. Ly calls and Booth folds 63 for two pair face up on the table. Bonyadi shows 66 for middle set while Ly shows 33 for bottom set. With Booth showing that he folded both the case three and six, Ly is drawing dead. Bonyadi more than doubles up to over 75,000.

Devin Porter the Anti-Baller

Level 5: 300-600, 75 ante