WPT Legends of Poker final table features November Niner
UPDATE:
Prahlad Friedman Wins Million-Dollar Prize, Schaffel Takes Second
The final table of the $10,000 WPT Legends of Poker resumes at 4pm PT today, with November Niner Kevin Schaffel the chip leader at 2,234,000. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated:
1. Sam Stein – 743,000
2. Todd Terry – 2,219,000
3. Kevin Schaffel – 2,234,000
4. Prahlad Friedman – 1,476,000
5. Mike Krescanko – 1,209,000
6. Toto Leonidas – 580,000
Steven Begleiter, the other November Niner remaining from action on Tuesday, finished in 9th. Here’s what the final table is playing for:
1 $1,034,500
2 $471,670
3 $231,300
4 $144,600
5 $116,225
6 $89,220
BJ Nemeth and company will be providing hand by hand coverage of the final table on their live updates page.
Andrew says:
August 26th, 2009 at 2:18pm
How sick is the jump in payouts? $89K for 5th and a mil for first?
Kevin Mathers says:
August 26th, 2009 at 2:52pm
Look at Bellagio results for similar disparities. The payout structure was adjusted to give first place $1,000,000.
California Jen says:
August 26th, 2009 at 5:53pm
Yep, WPT can’t have a first place of less than $1 million. Sucks for smaller fields. Still looking forward to seeing if Schaffel can actually win this thing tonight – should be interesting!
BJ Nemeth says:
August 26th, 2009 at 8:54pm
FYI, the payouts are set by the casinos, and not by the WPT. The casino really wanted the $1 million first prize, and I’m not sure why they didn’t make it an even million. Who cares about the extra $9,000 at that point? (Though it would be appreciated by those lower on the payscale …)
BJ Nemeth says:
August 26th, 2009 at 9:01pm
And as you probably know, the WPT has had *plenty* of first prizes below the $1 million mark. I think it was Erik Seidel who won $992,890, missing out on a million-dollar cash. (He’s never had a million-dollar cash.)
In a similar incident, the WPT Biloxi event came up about $20K short of a $1 million first prize, and Johnny Grooms talked the casino into adding that amount to the prizepool as an overlay. Grooms convinced them that it was worth $20,000 to market the prize as $1 million. They could have slightly altered the payout schedule, but they didn’t. That’s pretty damn respectable, and pretty awesome of Johnny Grooms.
Poker Shrink says:
August 26th, 2009 at 10:15pm
Johnny Grooms – one of the classiest tournament directors in the business and on the long list of TDs who have been trashed by the ego-maniacs who are the corporate back room boyz at Harrah’s.
BJ Nemeth says:
August 27th, 2009 at 12:59am
Kevin “November Nine” Schaffel came close, but finished second behind Prahlad Friedman. I was actually rooting for Schaffel, because a million-dollar WPT title definitely would have redirected some of the WSOP Final Table attention the WPT’s way. But I like Prahlad, so I’m still very happy with the WPT Legends champion.