Day 1 of the Season XVI WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic is in the books. Following the first 10 levels of play in this final WPT Main Tour event of the season, WPT Champions Club member Kevin Eyster (pictured) bagged the chip lead with 175,500 in chips. Day 1 saw a total of 150 entries generated, with 62 players advancing to Day 2.
Trailing Eyster at the top of the counts were Joe McKeehen (167,900), Tom Marchese (166,000), Matt Parry (165,300), and Kitty Kuo (157,600).
Day 2 will begin at 12 p.m. local time on Monday, May 21, at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Registration remains open until the start of Day 2, and anyone who busted can reenter one more time if they would like.
WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic Day 1 Top 10
1. Kevin Eyster – 175,500
2. Joe McKeehen – 167,900
3. Tom Marchese – 166,000
4. Matt Parry – 165,300
5. Kitty Kuo – 157,600
6. Jonathan Little – 149,400
7. Ryan Tosoc – 147,500
8. Jared Jaffee – 140,900
9. Steffen Sontheimer – 139,900
10. Tim Reilly – 136,000
Eyster is a two-time WPT champion looking for his record-tying third World Poker Tour title. He won the Season XII WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown for $660,395 and the Season XIV WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1.587 million. In those two events, Eyster topped fields of 542 and 639 entries, respectively. Should Eyster go on to win the inaugural WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, he would tie WPT greats Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen, Anthony Zinno, Chino Rheem, and Darren Elias with three WPT titles.
Helping Eyster secure the chip lead was a hand where Eyster doubled through fellow WPT Champions Club member Nick Schulman. Schulman shoved the river on a board of 
against Eyster. Eyster called with the 
to beat Schulman’s 
and doubled to more than 130,000 in chips at the time.
Schulman went on to bag 19,200.
As things currently stand, the winner will walk away with 1,000 points in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race, with second worth 800 points. McKeehen, who finished Day 1 second in chips, is 800 points behind Art Papazyan, the correct Hublot WPT Player of the Year frontrunner. If things hold as is, McKeehen could finish first or second to pass Papazyan and grab Hublot WPT Player of the Year honors for Season XVI. It’s important to note that Papazyan did not show up to play on Day 1, but he could still register before the start of Day 2.
For more on how the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race stacks up heading into the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, click here.
Marchese, who finished Day 1 third in chips, looks to be on a WPT hot streak. He recently bagged the chip in the WPT Bellagio $25,000 High Roller and will be playing that final table on Friday, May 25, at Esports Arena Las Vegas at Luxor Hotel & Casino. First place in that event is worth $432,000.
Rex Clinkscales used the tournament credits he won for winning Season 4 WPTDeepStacks Player of the Year to buy in and bagged 76,800 in chips on Day 1.
Another intriguing story still in the mix is that of Tom Wheaton, founder and CEO of Faded Spade, the preferred playing cards of the World Poker Tour. Wheaton is playing the largest buy-in event of his career and sold 80% of his action on YouStake.com, a staking site that Faded Spade has partnered with. Wheaton bagged 74,700 on Day 1. He spoke with WPT.com on Day 1 and you can read the feature story by clicking here.
Elsewhere on the leaderboard are WPT Champions Club members Dietrich Fast (113,400), Justin Young (108,800), Seth Davies (72,100), and Erik Seidel (69,800).
Day 2 of the event takes place starting at 12 p.m. PT on Monday. Registration remains open until the start of Day 2, and anyone who busted is allowed one reentry.
Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage of the World Poker Tour.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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