There were 498 entries on Day 1 of the Season XV WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Championship, and an additional 23 entered on Day 2 for a total field size of 521 players — just enough to create a total prize pool worth $5 million.
Day 2 ended with 111 players remaining, and for the second day in a row, Nick Maimone had the biggest stack.
“I got very fortunate in a couple of hands,” Maimone said. “I got pocket queens against ace-jack on a jack-high board to bust a guy. In one of the biggest hands of the day, I had queens against ace-queen on a 
board. [Stefan Schillhabel] had twos full of queens, and I had queens full of twos. Nothing he can do, I was very blessed there.”
But there were still some larger stacks than his late in the day, so Maimone still had some work to do.
“I won another really big hand near the end of the night,” Maimone continued. “I raised jack-seven of diamonds, and [Jordan Cristos] with aces just called me. The board came 
with two spades. I bet, he raised me huge, and I just went all in with my two pair. There wasn’t really much else I could do. He had aces and I held.”
That catapulted Maimone back into the lead in the final minutes of the night with 567,400 (236 big blinds). The full seat draw with official chip counts will be posted soon, but here’s the top of the leaderboard:
1. Nick Maimone – 567,400 (236 bb)
2. Matt Berkey – 493,100 (205 bb)
3. Mohsin Charania – 435,400 (181 bb)
4. Daniel Strelitz – 410,000 (171 bb)
5. Bryce Yockey – 354,800 (148 bb)
6. William Vo – 350,000 (146 bb)
7. Antonio Esfandiari – 349,300 (146 bb)
8. Daniel Lawrence – 317,200 (132 bb)
9. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 314,400 (131 bb)
10. Mike Sexton – 270,400 (113 bb)
That leaderboard includes two players with two WPT titles each — Mohsin Charania and Antonio Esfandiari. It was only two days ago that Darren Elias won his third WPT title, and either of these two could join Elias as a three-title winner.
And check out that name in 10th place on the leaderboard — none other than Mike Sexton, who won his first WPT title in dramatic fashion at a TV final table back in November. Could Sexton join the elite club of players with two WPT titles?
The total prize pool is worth just north of $5 million, and the final 66 players will finish in the money, likely Monday afternoon or early evening. Here is the full list of payouts:
1st: $1,001,110*
2nd: $672,190
3rd: $431,340
4th: $300,690
5th: $230,380
6th: $191,490
7th: $161,320
8th: $128,650
9th: $96,640
10th-12th: $80,280
13th-15th: $64,130
16th-18th: $53,760
19th-21st: $45,380
22nd-24th: $37,950
25th-27th: $32,610
28th-36th: $27,780
37th-45th: $23,990
46th-54th: $20,300
55th-63rd: $17,150
64th-66th: $14,160
*First-prize amount includes the winner’s $15,000 entry into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
Day 3 begins Monday at 12 p.m. PT, and the field will play another five 90-minute levels. Return to WPT.com for continuing coverage of all the action at the Season XV WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Championship.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com