Day 1a of the Season XVII WPT Gardens Poker Festival Main Event kicked off on Saturday from the Gardens Casino in Southern California. The opening starting flight attracted 209 entries, with Brandon Lai (pictured above) bagged the chip lead thanks to finishing with a stack of 204,000 in chips. Day 1b begins Sunday, July 22, 2018, at 12 p.m. PT.
With a $5,000 buy-in, 209 entries, and $250,000 in added cash and prizes from the Gardens Casino, the prize pool is already more than $1.2 million with another starting flight to go. Included in the added cash and prizes is a Mercedes-Benz SLC Roadster for the winner, plus $200,000 in cash added to the prize pool.
Approximately 100 players bagged chips for Day 2, with Lai trailed closest by Ari Engel (pictured below) with 201,700.
Although close in chips, Lai and Engel have drastically different poker careers on paper. Lai has no recorded live tournament cashes. Engel is on the other side of the spectrum completely, with 266 live tournament cashes ahead of this event and nearly $6 million in live tournament earnings.
Jake Schindler and Kitty Kuo were two of the others to bag impressive Day 1a stacks. Schindler finisher on 164,800, and Kuo put 163,000 in the bag. Both players have experience with deep runs on the World Poker Tour, and we’ll get to see if their early success in the WPT Gardens Main Event proves a launching pad for another final table appearance. Schindler’s highest finish in a WPT Main Tour event came in the Season XV WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,000 Main Event, where he took third in a field of 791 entries to earn $736,579. Kuo’s best WPT Main Tour result was just last season when she finished runner-up to Darren Elias in the $10,000 buy-in WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic. Kuo earned $248,380 for that result from a field of 162 entries, as Elias went on to win a record fourth WPT title.
Daniel Strelitz, WPT Champions Club member thanks to winning the Season XV WPT L.A. Poker Classic just down the road at Commerce Casino, bagged 88,200 in chips. Strelitz is a local to Southern California, so he feels right at home at the Gardens Casino for the WPT Gardens Poker Festival. He spoke about that and more with WPT.com on Day 1a.
Art Papazyan, the reigning Hublot WPT Player of the Year, finished Day 1a with 62,500 in chips. Papazyan is coming off a truly breakout season that not only put him on the World Poker Tour map, but allowed him to gain global recognition. Papazyan won two WPT titles in Season XVI, claimed the Hublot WPT Player of the Year title, and was awarded Breakout Player of the Year at the 4th Annual American Poker Awards. He spoke to WPT.com on Day 1a about winning Hublot WPT Player of the Year and his plans for Season XVII of the World Poker Tour. Check that story out here.
Tony Dunst, WPT commentator and WPT champion, finished with just 11,100 in chips and was the shortest stack to end Day 1a.
Day 1b kicks off at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday, with the plan to play another eight 60-minute levels and end around 8:45 p.m. Registration and reentry are open until the start of Level 11 (approximately 3:30 p.m. on Day 2). Players are allowed two entries per starting flight, plus an additional two entries on Day 2, for a maximum of six entries per player.
Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage of the WPT Gardens Poker Festival $5,000 Main Event.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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