WPT Legends of Poker Attendance Drops 25%

Saturday marked the lone Day 1 of the 2009 World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker, which emanates from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. This year, 279 runners turned out for the $10,000 buy-in tournament, a 25% decline in attendance.

In 2008, 373 players were on-hand for the festivities, which ended with John “The Razor” Phan besting online poker pro Amit “amak316” Makhija. As a result, Phan earned his first WPT title and boosted his bankroll by $1.1 million. Phan is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner. This year, the champion of the WPT Legends of Poker will take home just over $1 million, with the following payouts up for grabs:

1st Place: $1,009,000
2nd Place: $471,670
3rd Place: $231,300
4th Place: $144,600
5th Place: $116,225
6th Place: $89,220
7th Place: $64,400
8th Place: $52,320
9th Place: $39,240
10th to 12th Places: $32,700
13th to 15th Places: $26,160
16th to 18th Places: $22,240
19th to 27th Places: $18,285

A total of 38.4% of the prize pool is earmarked for the winner, who will also take home a $25,000 entry into the end-of-season WPT Championship at the Bellagio. The 2009 attendance number is the second smallest for the Legends of Poker, which drew just 134 players in 2002, one year before the monumental win by Chris Moneymaker changed the game forever. In 2002, the buy-in to the event was just $5,000.

Six levels lasting 90 minutes each were scheduled to pan out on Saturday. However, given the lower attendance, only five will occur. Early eliminations in the Bike’s new Events Center included Beth Shak, Carlos Mortensen, and Joe Sebok. Mortensen shoved with 10-8 after a flop of J-9-5, but was called by a player holding A-10. A nine on the turn and deuce on the river sealed the former WSOP Main Event Champion’s exit. He became short-stacked after being five-outed with pocket tens.

Sebok was bumped after pushing with A-Q on a flop of A-8-5 with two hearts. His opponent flipped up J-9 for a flush draw, which promptly hit on the turn. Among those who excelled on Day 1 of the Legends of Poker was Alexandre Gomes, a member of Team PokerStars Pro who recently took down the WPT’s Bellagio Cup. Gomes called an all-in holding 5-6 on a board of A-Q-7-4-3. His opponent revealed 7-4 for two pair, but Gomes had the stone cold nuts and took down the pot. At the time of writing, Gomes is the chip leader.

Court Harrington, who is on-site at the Bicycle Casino reporting on the action for PocketFivesLive.com, told Poker News Daily, “I don’t think anyone expected the field to be huge, but dropping almost 100 players from last year surprised a lot of people. Not long ago, a WPT field under 300 was unheard of.” Harrington added that, despite the smaller crowd, the mood remains universally upbeat, as players have their sights set on the seven-figure payday for first place.

Just 268 players turned out for the WPT’s Bellagio Cup V in July, a drop of 40% from the 2008 figure. Last season on the WPT circuit, two North American events had fields of fewer than 300, the Southern Poker Championship (283) and Foxwoods Poker Classic (259).

Stay tuned for the latest from the 2009 WPT Legends of Poker right here on Poker News Daily.

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Poker slang:

FOURTH STREET - In stud poker, the fourth card dealt to each player. Sometimes used to refer to the fourth community card dealt in Hold'em, although the more common term for this is TURN (q.v.).
DEAD MONEY - Money contributed to the pot by players who have folded.
STRAIGHT - A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.
FREE CARD - A card dealt after all players checked in a betting round.
OPEN - Make the first bet in a hand, especially in draw poker.
BLACK - When referring to chips, black usually stands for $100 casino chips. "This guy sits down with a stack of blacks and raises the first bet." Not ALL casinos use black for $100 but that is the common usage.

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