World Poker Tour Alpha8 St. Kitts Day 1: Haxton Leads as 16 of 28 Advance
The World Poker Tour Aplha8 St. Kitts $100,000 High Roller kicked off on Saturday as 23 players flocked to the beautiful Caribbean island for 11 levels of play. During that time five players busted and re-entered the event, which brought the total number of entries up to 28 and created a prize pool of $2,716,000, of which $1,086,400 will go to the eventual winner.
The man best position to capture the top prize is Isaac Haxton of PokerStars’ Team Online, who leads the advancing 16 players with a stack of 462,000.
End-of-Day-1 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Haxton | 462,000 |
| 2 | Mike McDonald | 345,000 |
| 3 | Scott Seiver | 250,500 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | 230,500 |
| 5 | Timothy Adams | 225,000 |
| 6 | Jeff Gross | 159,500 |
| 7 | Antonio Esfandiari | 148,500 |
| 8 | Fabian Quoss | 147,500 |
| 9 | Max Altergott | 143,350 |
| 10 | Steven Silverman | 113,500 |
| 11 | Tom McDonald | 109,500 |
| 12 | Sorel Mizzi | 90,500 |
| 13 | Paul Newey | 76,000 |
| 14 | Philipp Gruissem | 75,500 |
| 15 | Tobias Reinkemeier | 74,500 |
| 16 | Michael Singh | 74,000 |
According tothe WPT Live Blog, Jeff Gross, who is one of five players to have attended all three WPT Alpha8 events, jumped out to an early chip. It happened in Level 3 (300/600/100) with 31,000 already in the pot and a board reading A♣J♥9♣Q♥K♥. Gross bet 25,000 from the button and Timothy Adams check-raised all in from the cutoff for 71,100. Gross hit the tank but eventually called with the 10♥8♥ for a flush, which bested Adams’ A♥K♣.
Adams accounted for one of the five re-entries, while Ray Tabby, Fabian Quoss, Steven Silverman, and Bill Perkins accounted for the others. One man who opted not to re-enter was Tony Guglietti, who was eliminated by Haxton in Level 4 (400/800/100).
It happened when Haxton opened for 7,000 only to have Guglietti three-bet to 15,000 from the small blind. After the big folded, Haxton four-bet to 32,000 and then called when Guglietti moved all in.
Guglietti: A♠K♥
Haxton: A♥A♣
It was a bad spot for Guglietti, and according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, he has just a 5.86% chance of winning the hand. That dropped to a mere 1.52% when the A♦10♣9♣ flop delivered Haxton a set, which meant Guglietti needed to catch a running jack and queen to win the hand. The K♦ turn took away any chance of that happening, and Guglietti was sent to the rail after the 3♥ was run out on the river.
In Level 8 (1,000/2,000/300), Perkins, the man responsible for organizing the event on his “home away from home,” fell for a second time. It happened when he got his stack all in preflop holding the A♣K♣ and was racing against the Q♦Q♣ of Paul Newey. It was a coin flip, but not after the Q♥7♣3♦ flop gave Newey a set. Neither the K♦ turn nor 4♠ river helped Perkins, and his schedule was cleared to enjoy the beach.
Others who failed to make Day 2 were Jonathan Duhamel, Ray Tabby, Igor Kurganov, Erik Seidel and Greg Whalley.
The final 16 players will return on Sunday to play down to a winner. PokerNews will bring you a recap upon completion of the WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts, so be sure to check back for that.
*Photos courtesy of the WPT Blog.
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