The inaugural Monster WPT Tournament of Champions kicked off on Friday at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with 64 members of the WPT Champions Club in attendance. Leading the 31 survivors after Day 1 is Season XIV WPT Amsterdam champion Farid Yachou, and hot on his heels is two-time WPT Champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. The top five also features this week’s WPT Champion Justin Young, as well as Ravi Raghavan and Noah Schwartz.
Top Chip Counts
1. Farid Yachou – 216,700
2. Michael Mizrachi – 210,100
3. Justin Young – 196,600
4. Ravi Raghavan – 188,300
5. Noah Schwartz – 170,200
Among the players who failed to reach Day 2 were Season XIV Hublot WPT Player of the Year Mike Shariati, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, David Chiu, Tony Dunst, and Dan Smith. Smith was the 64th and final player to register for the tournament, hopping on a last-second flight Friday morning from Toronto just to compete in the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions.
With $100,000 in added cash, the prize pool reached more than $1 million. There are also more than $150,000 in prizes up for grabs for the winner and the six members of the televised final table:
– A 2016 Corvette, courtesy of Monster
– A special Hublot® watch
– An Aurae® Solid Gold MasterCard
– A pair of gold Monster® 24K Headphones
– A custom premium poker table from BBO Poker Tables
– A seat in Tiger’s Poker Night Presented by World Poker Tour
– A round of golf at the world-class Shadow Creek Golf Course with Matt Savage and two friends
*No cash substitutions. Prizes do not include taxes, fees, or gratuities.
Day 1 of the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions also saw the introduction of the Action Clock, created by Protection Poker. Designed to speed up the game with minimal interference, the Action Clock was met with great praise from many players:
Here is the full list of official seating and chip counts for Day 2:
TABLE 1
Seat 1. Nam Le – 30,500
Seat 2. Asher Conniff – 39,000
Seat 3. Anthony Zinno – 55,400
Seat 4. John Hennigan – 150,300
Seat 5. Michael Mizrachi – 210,100
Seat 6. Keven Stammen – 67,600
Seat 7. Taylor Paur – 45,800
Seat 8. Noah Schwartz – 170,200
TABLE 2
Seat 1. Griffin Paul – 99,200
Seat 2. Chris Leong – 24,200
Seat 3. Joe Hachem – 18,900
Seat 4. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 55,000
Seat 5. Andy Frankenberger – 98,700
Seat 6. Jared Mahoney – 51,400
Seat 7. Justin Young – 196,600
Seat 8. Mike Scarborough – 47,400
TABLE 3
Seat 1.
Seat 2. Ravi Raghavan – 188,300
Seat 3. Tyler Patterson – 155,600
Seat 4. Dylan Wilkerson – 52,000
Seat 5. Farid Yachou – 216,700
Seat 6. Mohsin Charania – 125,500
Seat 7. Vlad Darie – 125,000
Seat 8. Matt Salsberg – 62,900
TABLE 4
Seat 1. Jonathan Jaffe – 154,100
Seat 2. Ryan Van Sanford – 32,200
Seat 3. Iaron Lightbourne – 61,600
Seat 4. Bobby Oboodi – 91,200
Seat 5. Amir Babakhani – 115,600
Seat 6. Darren Elias – 137,900
Seat 7. Jonathan Roy – 112,100
Seat 8. Shawn Cunix – 111,300
Day 2 begins Saturday at 12:00 noon ET. Return to WPT.com for continuing coverage as the remaining 31 players battle for the six seats at Sunday’s televised WPT Final Table.
Photography by Joe Giron and Jayne Furman / PokerPhotoArchive.com