Welcome to Day 1B of the Season XVIII WPT Gardens Poker Festival

By Tim Duckworth

Welcome to the WPT Gardens Poker Festival and the kickoff event for Season XVIII of the WPT Main Tour.

In similar fashion to the kickoff for Season XVII, the WPT is back in sunny Southern California and the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, California, for the third WPT Main Tour stop this casino has hosted in the past 12 months.

The Season XVII WPT Gardens Poker Festival kicked off in July last year where Simon Lam (pictured below) collected his first WPT title when he won he defeated the 584-entrant field to capture the $565,055 first-place prize on a final table including Jake Schindler, Men Nguyen, Craig Varnell, Saya Ono, and Jared Griener.

In January of this year, the Season XVII WPT Gardens Poker Championship was the first televised stop of the season with the final table being played out in March at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Frank Stepuchin would win his first WPT title when he topped the 253-entrant field for a $548,825 first-place prize on a final table that included Shannon Shorr, Steve Sung, Brent Roberts, Ray Qartomy, and Jonathan Abdellatif.

Day 1A of the WPT Gardens Poker Festival played out on Saturday with a total of 122 entrants taking a seat. Once the dust settled, just 56 players would survive into Day 2 with Cord Garcia in the lead with 265,700. Garcia led for the latter stages of Day 1A and would see Straton Wilhelm (244,300) and Jeff Madsen (205,800) finishing behind him as the only players over 200,000 in chips. Also surviving are WPT Champions Club members Daniel Strelitz, Jordan Cristos, Jared Jaffee, Adam Weinraub, Mohsin Charania, Anthony Zinno, Matthew Wantman, and Aaron Mermelstein, along with WPT500 Champion Sean Yu, WPTDeepStacks Champion Maria Ho, and Gardens Satellite Spectacular Qualifier Kevin McCormack.

The Gardens Casino bills itself as “The Best Play in L.A.,” and for good reason. The Gardens offers a clean, spacious room with complete comfort, a wide variety of tasty food options, non-stop poker action including in the VIP Poker Room, and a great Southern California location to make a poker trip into a great vacation.

Not only will the Gardens Poker Festival winner add his or her name to the WPT Champions Cup, but the property has revved up the payout with an interesting prize. The Season XVIII champion will drive home a 2019 BMW X1, worth an extra $40,000.

See Why Gardens Poker Festival is a Must Play in L.A.

WPT Gardens Poker Festival Structure and Schedule

The WPT Gardens Poker Festival features a $5,000 buy-in and players are allowed a single re-entry on Day 1A/1B and Day 2 for a maximum of six total entries. Registration is open until the beginning of level 11 on Day 2, Monday July, 22; approximately 2:15 p.m (PDT).

As is the case with all Season XVIII WPT Main Tour stops, it comes with the new World Poker Tour structure that includes the big blind ante format and 40,000 in starting chips. The first two levels will be 100-100 and 100-200 with no ante before the big blind ante kicks in for Level 3 and onward. Level 3 will be 100-200 with a 200 ante, and the big blind ante will be the same price as the big blind from there on out.

The WPT Gardens Poker Festival schedule will see play start at 12 p.m. (PST). Day 1B and 2 will play eight 60-minute levels with a 15-minute break after every two levels and there will be no dinner break. Day 3 will play five 90-minute levels with a 15-minute break after each level, and there will be no dinner break, while on Day 4, play will continue at 90-minute levels until the final table of six is reached.

The WPT Gardens Poker Festival final table will take place on Thursday, July 25, at 2 p.m. (PDT), and levels will be 60-minutes in duration until heads-up is reached where they will be reduced to 30 minutes in length until the newest WPT Champion is crowned.

To view complete information on the WPT Gardens Poker Festival structure and schedule, click here.

The stage is now set for Day 1B of the WPT Gardens Poker Festival from The Gardens Casino at 12 p.m. (PDT). Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the WPT Gardens Poker Festival Champion, recipient of the 2019 BMW X1 car, and wins his or her way to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive

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