Steven Merrifield Surges to WPT Foxwoods Lead After Day 2
While the majority of the industry is focusing its attention on the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas today, Day Three of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) World Poker Finals at the Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Connecticut will start back up Saturday afternoon, with poker professional Steven Merrifield leading the pack.
205 players of the original 353 runners came back for action on Day Two, with Todd Terry as the chip leader. Terry was facing significant challenges, however, with Adam Lippert and Alan Sasser in hot pursuit. Sasser, who was in the WPT Foxwoods event on a freeroll after winning his seat in an online qualifier on ClubWPT.com, was unable to push into the Day Three action, though, and he was joined on the rails by other top players such as Lippert, former WPT Player of the Year Gavin Smith, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Prahlad Freidman, and Liv Boeree.
Jason Mercier looked to be making his move on the chip lead until an unfortunate bad beat knocked him down the ladder. With Mercier’s opponent all-in on the flop with a pair of nines and an ace kicker, Mercier called with pocket queens and looked to have a stranglehold on the hand. The turn, however, brought an ace and the river another nine, giving his opponent a boat and a key double up. Mercier, who was knocked down to around 80,000 in chips at that point, was able to work his way back up and will start Day Three under the chip average with 139,000.
For much of the final few hours of play on Friday, the action on the felt left many around the tournament arena wondering who was actually in the lead. Day One leader Terry, Soheil Shamseddin, Christian Harder, and Terrence Chan all claimed to have the lead. It took a late run by Merrifield, including a key victory against Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, to drive him to the top of the leaderboard for the start of action today.
As the cards prepare to fly in Foxwoods this afternoon, here are the top ten of the 68 players remaining in the field:
1. Steven Merrifield – 465,100
2. Soheil Shamseddin – 401,000
3. Todd Terry – 396,500
4. Terrence Chan – 394,200
5. Curt Kohlberg – 370,000
6. Frank Calo – 361,200
7. Christian Harder – 330,400
8. Jesse Martin – 329,800
9. Joe Serock – 277,000
10. Adam Gerber – 270,000
Other top names in the field include former WPT champions Cornel Andrew Cimpan, Steve Brecher, and Nenad Medic. Interestingly, Medic has a chance to make WPT history. If the Canadian can come back to win this tournament, it would mark the first time that a player has won the same WPT event twice; Medic also won in 2006. His work is cut out for him, however, as he sits below the average chip stack with 151,000 in chips.
With the top 36 finishers paid in the tournament, the money bubble will most likely burst sometime Saturday afternoon. Poker News Daily will have all the latest from Connecticut as the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals works to its final table on Tuesday evening.
Related Poker News:
- Foxwoods, WPT Expand Relationship with New WPT Poker Room
- 2011 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals Day 5: Final Table Set; Harder Eyeing Title
- Soheil Shamseddin Atop WPT Foxwoods Leaderboard After Day 3
- Dealers, Union Protest at MGM Foxwoods Opening
- Brandon Steven Video Interview
- World Poker Tour Leaves its Mark on Foxwoods Poker Room
- PokerStars.com SCOOP Event 17-Hi: Koon, Merrifield Chop
- The World Series of Poker November Nine: Steven Begleiter
- Tournament Results — 2006 Foxwoods Poker Classic
- Poker Room Changes - Interview with Kathy Raymond of Foxwoods
- WPT Foxwoods Starts Today
- Foxwoods To Host WPT Themed Poker Room
Poker lexicon:
- TELL - Any personal mannerisms that reveal the quality of one's hand. E.g., constantly looking at one's hole cards is often a tell of a poor hand. (Some players, knowing this, will at times check their hole cards when they have a great hand and don't need to look.)
- BIG BLIND - A blind bet, usually a raise of an earlier blind which would be called the SMALL BLIND. In limit poker, the BIG BLIND is usually the size of the minimum bet on the first round of betting.
- BLANK - Used in describing stud and Hold'em games. Refers to a dealt card that does not offer any value; stating the actual rank and suit would detract from a description of the hand. "The last card was a blank.".
- OVER - A term used in describing two pair or a full house. "Kings over tens" means two pair, kings and tens. "Jacks over", also "Jacks up" describes a hand that is two pair: Jacks with an unspecified lower pair. Also used to describe a full house, distinguishing the three of a kind from the pair. The hand J-J-J-A-A could be described as "Full house, Jacks over Aces".
- RERAISE - To raise after an opponent has raised.
- POT ODDS - The amount of money in the pot divided by the amount of money you must bet in order to call. Often used to determine if a pot offers enough reward to play on the come.
RSS feed
