Day 1b of the Season XVI WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship attracted 447 entries to the felt at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Adding those to the 464 entries tallied from Day 1a and the official field size totaled 911 entries, smashing the $2 million guarantee on the prize pool with more than $2.9 million up for grabs. The top 114 places will reach the money, with the winner set to take home $511,604.
Joseph Couden (pictured) finished with the chip lead after Day 1b, and his 342,500 in chips will be the biggest stack in the room when Day 2 starts at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Couden entered this event with more than $1.3 million in live tournament earnings, according to his HendonMob.com profile. He recently finished 33rd in the WPTDeepStacks Hollywood $1,100 Main Event just a few days ago and will be looking to score his fifth WPT Main Tour cash. Couden’s best WPT Main Tour result was back in Season XI when he placed seventh in the WPT Parx Open Poker Classic for $47,215.
“I got off to a good start,” Couden said of his day. “By the first break, I already doubled up. I played a big pot where I had a little under 100,000 and made a flush on the river. A guy tried to bluff me and that pot was big. I never really lost any big pots.”
Couden spends a lot of his poker-playing time battling in cash games. In fact, he skipped Day 1a to play cash games.
“I wanted to make time for it,” Couden said of his choice to play the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship. “I was going to play yesterday but played cash. If I had to play cash today, I would’ve, but I came in a little later.”
As a cash game player, a big stack should help Couden going forward, but he plans to wait and see his full table draw for Day 2 before he makes any decisions on how he’s going to strategize.
“I’ve bagged similar stacks to this before,” Couden said. “I feel like it’s best to see what type of table you have and go from there.”
Cong Pham (297,300), Sam DeSilva (211,700), and Bobby Suer (200,900) were a few of the other notables to bag big stacks on Day 1b. Of course, this big stacks will have to contend with the ones that came out of Day 1a, and that’s where Brad Albrinck grabbed the early lead with 236,800. To read more about Day 1a, click here.
In addition to the $511,604 up for grabs for first place, the winner will take home 1,200 points in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race. Second place will also earn four figures in the race (1,000 points), but it’s not likely that current leader Art Papazyan will be caught.
With 175 players advancing from Day 1a and 168 coming out of Day 1b, the Season XVI WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship has 343 players remaining. Day 2 should see the money bubble burst, and you can follow all the action right here on WPT.com.
Day 2 kicks off on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time, and we’ll see you then.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.