The third and final starting flight in the Season XVI WPT Legends of Poker Main Event wrapped up on Sunday, and the field has grown to 715 thanks to 383 entries on Day 1c. Bagging up the chip lead at the end of Day 1c was Cody Slaubaugh (pictured) with a stack of 310,500 in chips, and heading into Monday’s Day 2.
Registration and reentry will remain open until the start of play on Monday at 12 p.m. PT for Day 2.
Slaubaugh is no stranger to poker success and will be looking to add to his career total of $1.322 million in live tournament earnings. Slaubaugh’s record contains three World Poker Tour cashes, including a 35th-place finish in the Season X WPT Legends of Poker Main Event worth $10,280.
“I chipped up early,” Slaubaugh said of his day. “I got a double in the second level and ran pretty hot from there on out. I had a big hand, top two versus bottom two versus an open-ended draw for like a 100K pot early and that got me going. That put me up at like 120 or 130K. Then I just won some small pots and won a big flip for like 60K in Level 7 with jacks versus ace-king.”
With his stack, Slaubaugh will be the overall leader going forward in the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event.
“Usually, I don’t like to have a plan,” Slaubaugh said of how he plans to approach things starting with Day 2. “Just kind of feel the table out and go from there.”
Nipping at the heels of Slaubaugh was Mel Wiener with a stack of 307,100 in chips. Wiener boasts a career résumé of more than $1.72 million in live tournament winnings, including a 16th-place finish in the Season II WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event for $30,250 as his only WPT cash. Wiener does have a WSOP gold bracelet victory from 1996.
Other notables to advance to Day 2 were Japanese music star GACKT, who is looking to make his mark on the World Poker Tour, WPT Champions Club members James Carroll and Zachary Smiley, and Season XV WPT finalist Simon Lam.
Lam had an active final level that included knocking out Ardavan Yazdi and doubling up GACKT. Interestingly enough, when he busted Yazdi, Lam had the worst of it, but scored a lucky river card to give him the victory. When he busted GACKT, Lam had the best of it with pocket kings to GACKT’s 
, but GACKT spiked a flush.
James Calderaro, Chris Klodnicki, Mike Matusow, Andrew Moreno, and Scotty Nguyen also survived the day, with Calderaro and Nguyen being WPT Champions Club members.
Day 2 is set to kick off at 12 p.m. PT at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino on Monday. Once registration closes, the final numbers will be tallied and released, at which time WPT.com will post the total field size, prize pool generated, and payouts. Not only will the winner take home the lion’s share of the prize pool, but he or she will win a luxurious Hublot Big Bang Steel watch. Monday will also be the day when it is realized when the WPT’s one-billionth prize dollar will be awarded, and this will all happen in Southern California at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino, which has been a part of the World Poker Tour each and every season for 16 wonderful years.
Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage of this legendary event as the field moves closer to crowning a new WPT champion.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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