At the end of Day 2 of the WPT Legends of Poker tourney at the Bike, there are 53 players remaining … 45 of whom will make the money — $16,000 for crossing the bubble — and a few who will have a real chance at the $1.6 million first prize. Tom was a serious force all day, but ended up with 180k in chips … just below the average stack line. Robert (along with David Chiu) will start Day 3 with the smallest stack. Should be a real test of his critical bubble play. That or pocket queens on his first playable hand will or will not hold up.
Dallas underground expat Gavin Griffin is also alive and well, by the way.
Interesting thing in the official tournament wrap-up is the growing disparity between CardPlayer, now in partnership with the WPT, and the WSOP. I guess it\’s kinda like Japan and Italy were technically allies in WW2, semi-united in their animosity toward the USA and its way of doing things:
Legends of Poker Day 2 Recap
In a quiet corner of the Bicycle Casino, day two of the Legends of Poker played out as the antithesis of the World Series of Poker. The first major tournament since hoards or poker fanatics descended upon the circuit, Legends produced a focused group of name professionals that batted until 53 were left standing. Flurries of action were set between long periods of calm, and numerous pros fell early.
I guess it shouldn\’t surprise us that they are trying to put a positive spin on the \”closed set\” nature of their events. After all, it is quite different from the carnival atmosphere of the WSOP, and indeed, that\’s their prerogative to run \’em that way. It probably will work just fine — players will still play — but gotta say, I probably wouldn\’t care as much about what\’s going on behind closed curtains if I didn\’t have a couple friends alive behind them.
Any thoughts on this from you poker-geeky internet readers out there?