Mike Sexton Leads the WPT California Swing, But Rainer Kempe Hot on His Heels

The fourth annual WPT California Swing is in, well, full swing as the second of three legs wraps up with today’s final today The leaderboard contest, which is open to any players who play all three events of the swing (LAPC, Bay 101, and Rolling Thunder) and the winners will receive a comprehensive prize package for the 2018 WPT California Swing, which includes the following:

1.  During the 2018 WPT L.A. Poker Classic, the winner will receive up to six nights of complimentary accommodation at the Commerce Casino’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, and complimentary airport transfer from LAX or Burbank Airport.

2.  During the 2018 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, the winner will be awarded Shooting Star status, and receive complimentary accommodation of up to $1,000 in value to attend the event.

3.  During the 2018 WPT Rolling Thunder, the winner will receive up to five nights of accommodation, plus a $500 food and beverage credit for use during the event.

Currently the WPT’s own Mike Sexton leads the charge after finishing fourth at LAPC and taking 22nd here. His lead may not last for long though. Rainer Kempe, the last Shooting Star remaining in the field, is right behind Sexton in the standings and would take the lead if he finishes fourth or better this evening. Even if he does not, there is an upside for Kempe. As an employee of the WPT, Sexton is ineligible to win the contest, so right now the prize package is Kempe’s to lose. He comes into today fresh off an 18th-place finish in LAPC and second in the chip counts at the final table behind Chino Rheem.

The last leg of the swing, WPT Rolling Thunder at the Thunder Valley Casino near Sacramento begins on Saturday with the first of two starting days.

With six players remaining in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, here is the first compiled leaderboard for the WPT California Swing contest, which you can read more about by clicking here:

Players in bold are still alive in this event, and their point totals are in parentheses to indicate that their point totals can still increase today.

1.  Mike Sexton*  –  227 pts
2.  Rainer Kempe  –  (207 pts)
3.  Daniel Strelitz  –  179 pts
4.  Igor Yaroshevskyy  –  171 pts
5.  Garrett Greer  –  161 pts
6.  Joe Serock  –  134 pts
7.  John Cynn  –  124 pts
8.  Chino Rheem  –  (123 pts)
9.  Paul Volpe  –  (123 pts)
10.  Richard Tuhrim  –  121 pts
11.  Sam Phillips  –  119 pts
12.  Evan Krentzman  –  114 pts
13.  Sergio Aido  –  111 pts
14.  Brian Altman  –  110 pts
15.  Osmin Dardon  –  110 pts
16.  Matt Berkey  –  110 pts
17.  Stephen Graner  –  109 pts
18.  Kevin MacPhee  –  108 pts
19.  James Calderaro  –  107 pts
20.  Dzmitry Urbanovich  –  104 pts
21.  William Vo  –  102 pts
22.  Allan Le  –  101 pts
23.  Dean Baranowski  –  95 pts
24.  Sameer Aljanedi  –  91 pts
25.  Joe Elpayaa  –  87 pts
26.  Mike Eskandari  –  86 pts
27.  Charlie Carrel  –  80 pts
28.  Nam Le  –  80 pts
29.  Derek Wolters  –  79 pts
30.  Christian Harder  –  78 pts
31.  Pratyush Buddiga  –  77 pts
32.  Eduards Kudrjavcevs  –  76 pts
33.  Lander Lijo  –  73 pts
34.  Bryce Yockey  –  73 pts
35.  Jim Collopy  –  71 pts
36.  Nick Maimone  –  70 pts
37.  Eddy Sabat  –  68 pts
38.  Andrew Seidman  –  64 pts
39.  Mohsin Charania  –  60 pts
40.  Jimmy Guerrero  –  57 pts
41.  Ismael Bojang  –  49 pts
42.  Aaron Massey  –  41 pts
43.  Tim Reilly  –  38 pts
44.  Maria Ho  –  30 pts
45.  Michael Kamran  –  29 pts
46.  Anton Astapau  –  27 pts
47.  Nathan Bjerno  –  24 pts
48.  Grayson Ramage  –  21 pts

* As an employee of the World Poker Tour, Mike Sexton is ineligible to win this contest. However, he will be included on the leaderboard for comparison purposes and to give the appropriate respect to his performance during the WPT California Swing.