World Poker Tour Caribbean Day 1b: Ebony Kenney Captures Overall Chip Lead
The World Poker Tour Caribbean in St. Maarten continued on Wednesday with Day 1b action from the $3,200 Main Event. The second starting flight attracted 116 entries, and, combined with the 75 entries from Day 1a, brought the total field size up to 191. After eight one-hour levels of play, Ebony Kenney finished as the Day 1b chip leader of the advancing 64 players with 174,000.
Here’s a look at some notable stacks at the End of Day 1b:
| Rank | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ebony Kenney | 174,000 |
| 2 | Viet Vo | 134,000 |
| 3 | Stephan Serfati | 133,000 |
| 4 | Grega Vozel | 124,500 |
| 5 | Jean-Nicolas Fortin | 118,500 |
| 6 | Christian Stallinger | 116,800 |
| 7 | Ben Warrington | 111,600 |
| 8 | Ferenc Riech | 107,700 |
| 9 | Pim van Wierigen | 96,200 |
| 10 | Fedor Holz | 94,800 |
According to the WPT live blog, Kenney got some of her chips in the last few hands of the night. It happened in Level 8 (300/600/75) on a board of J♦7♥4♣5♣ when a player got his stack all in holding A♣J♣ for a pair and a flush draw, and Kenney had him at risk with the 4♦4♥ flopped set. The 10♦ river was safe for Kenney, and she vaulted into the chip lead.
David Peters, who opted to re-enter after being eliminated on Day 1a, didn’t have much luck with his second bullet. In Level 3 (75/150/25), Ferenc Riech opened with a raise and another player three-bet. Peters made the call, as did the big blind and Riech, and four players saw a flop of A♥7♥4♦. Actin checked to Peters and he fired out 2,200. The big blind folded, Riech check-raised to 5,800, and only Peters called.
When The 4♣ turned, Riech bet 6,800 and then called when Peters moved all in for roughly 20,000. Peters tabled AxKx for aces and fours with a king kicker, but it was dominated by the Q♥4♥ of Riech. Peters needed an ace to stay alive, but it wasn’t in the cards as the river blanked. Peters was eliminated from the tournament while Riech chipped up to 115,000 – which was more than Day 1a chip leader Marvin Rettenmaier (104,400) had amassed through eight levels.
Another player to fire a second bullet and miss was WPT Montreal champ Jonathan Roy. It happened in Level 5 (150/300/50) with 5,000 in the pot and a flop reading 4♥4♦3♦. Grega Vozel checked, Roy did the same, and the player in the cutoff bet 3,100. Vozel called, and then Roy sprung to life with an all-in check-raise to 19,250. The cutoff tanked for four minutes before calling off for 17,000, and Vozel must have been licking his chops as he snap-called to put both players at risk.
Vozel: 3♠3♣
Cutoff: Q♥Q♣
Roy: J♥J♦
Vozel had flopped a full house and both Roy and the cutoff needed to find their respective paint cards to stay alive. The 8♦ turn was of no consequence, and neither was the 10♠ river. With that, Roy and the cutoff exited the tournament.
Others who fell on day 1b were WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts champ Philipp Gruissem; recent WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble winner Jared Jaffe; and well-respected pro Chance Kornuth.
Where there are losers there are also winners, and some of the players that survived Day 1b were Stephen Bokor (85,100), Byron Kaverman (44,600), Tony Dunst (43,000), Fabian Quoss (32,800), Tobias Reinkemeier (25,800), Bobby Oboodi (24,500), Will “The Thrill” Failla (22,500), Igor Kurganov (22,000), and Casey Kastle (12,200)
Day 2 will kick off at 4 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time (3 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT) with the combined 107 survivors from Day 1a and 1b. PokerNews will be sure to bring you a recap of all the action upon completion of play.
Data and photo courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
