The WPT Gardens Poker Championship is nearing the first televised final table of Season XVII and a familiar face to WPT fans tops the leaderboard after Day 2. Shannon Shorr (pictured) is a veteran of three WPT final tables and an unofficial favorite to be heading to HyperX Esports Arena on March 12 as part of the inaugural six players to leave the Gardens with a final table berth. Shorr started the day with 80,800 and bagged 467,000 to pace the field on the eve of Day 3.
The total field number settled at 253 following a wave of entries on Day 2. 54 hopefuls return tomorrow with the final 32 players getting paid and $548,825 sitting up top for first along with a $15,000 seat to the Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.
Shorr did his part to pare down the field thanks to his eliminations of Mike Eskandari and Ryan Laplante. Earlier in the day, Shorr doubled through Dan Smith with pocket kings versus queens and rode his heater to the top.
Right behind Shorr is Tim Cramer (pictured). A Los Angeles pro with two LAPC Main Event top-10 finishes to his name, Cramer bought in on Day 2 and finished the day with 456,000.
Cramer reflected on his day by saying, “It feels great. I actually entered my third bullet at the 1,200 level so I spun up 40,000 to 450,000 in about six hours. It’s just one of the best feelings in the world.”
With the bubble closing in, Cramer says he will try to “do some abusing” in an effort to accumulate more chips for the stretch run.
Also in the upper part of the chip counts is Nicole Schwartz. You might remember Schwartz from her unique method of entering the WPT Gardens Poker Championship. Schwartz won a $100 buy-in charity event at the Gardens on Day 1a and is now sitting behind a stack of 354,000 with a potential score of at least $19,120 only 22 eliminations away.
Two-time WPT runner-up Garrett Greer (343,500) is in the top part of the mix as is Day 1a chip leader Frank Stepuchin (341,500). WPT Gardens Poker Festival final tablist Saya Ono (286,000), Season XVI LAPC runner-up Toby Lewis (259,000), and Season XVII WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble winner Tony Tran (257,500) are also in the hunt.
Along with Tran, Marvin Rettenmaier (157,500), Daniel Alaei (132,500), Dylan Linde (122,000), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (84,500), and Mohsin Charania (80,000) represent the WPT Champions Club.
$20 earned Dayron Huertas-Carballo (pictured) a seat into the WPT Gardens Poker Championship via the Gardens Satellite Spectacular and he comes into Day 3 with 125,000. Huertas-Carballo learned to play poker from watching WPT videos online and is closing in on his first WPT cash. What a world.
Among those who hit the road from the Gardens on Day 2 are Darren Elias, Chance Kornuth, Jake Schindler, Joe Kuether, Milos Skrbic, Bryan Piccioli, Scott Blumstein, Ping Liu, Bill Klein, Dan Smith, Tom Marchese, Mike Shariati, Art Papazyan, Farid Jattin, and WPT Gardens Poker Festival winner Simon Lam.
Play resumes at the Gardens Casino at 12:00 pm with five 90-minute levels on the schedule. The remaining players at the end of Day 3 will then play down to the final table on Day 4.
As always, stay tuned to WPT.com for all things WPT Gardens Poker Championship. #TheCupAwaits
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