WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 1b: Ke Leads Second Flight of Largest Field Ever
Records are meant to be broken, and on Tuesday the World Poker Tour smashed the record of entrants set in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star by at least 70 players.
The previous record was set last season, when 643 players packed into the Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, California. So far there are 713 entries here in Season XII, and registration is open until the start of Day 2.
Lucas Ke bagged the most chips at the end of the second Day 1flight, finishing with 252,000 and earning a $10,000 prize, but the overall chip leader entering Day 2 is Giorgio Medici. Medici bagged 254,600 chips on Day 1a.
WPT Bay 101 Top 10 Overall Stacks
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giorgio Medici | 254,600 |
| 2 | Hai Tran | 253,500 |
| 3 | Lucas Ke | 252,000 |
| 4 | Ron Minnis | 232,300 |
| 5 | David Forster | 225,200 |
| 6 | Shankar Pillai | 201,000 |
| 7 | James Carroll | 191,100 |
| 8 | Mukul Pahuja | 189,100 |
| 9 | Bryan Campanello | 182,300 |
| 10 | Carlos Villamarin | 182,000 |
Every starting table on Day 1 began with a notable "Shooting Star," and anyone who eliminates one of those select players will receive a $2,500 bounty. Of the 27 shooting stars at the start of Day 1b, 11 survived; Jeff Madsen (173,200), Phil Laak (147,300), Scott Seiver (141,800), Aaron Massey (86,800), Ravi Raghavan (63,200), Jason Mercier (56,800), Jeff Gross (55,200), Scotty Nguyen (42,400), Maria Ho (42,300), Andy Frankenberger (28,800), and Ludovic Lacay (23,500).
En route to bagging one of the largest stacks in the room, Laak played a very interesting pot in Level 7. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, he, Randy Gil, and a third player were involved in a pot on a board of Q♦8♣6♣7♦. Gil fired out 5,000, Laak raised to 11,000, and the third player folded. About two minutes into Gil's tank, Laak showed the 10♦, and Gil folded.
"I don't remember doing it," Laak said after the hand. "Aliens must have taken over my body."
Laak was given a one-round penalty, but it didn't seem to impede his progress going forward.
The other 16 shooting stars failed to survive the day; Bruce Buffer, Will Failla, Barry Greenstein, Galen Hall, Kyle Julius, Allen Kessler, Christina Lindley, Pat Lyons, Ana Marquez, Ryan Riess, Vanessa Selbst, Joe Serock, Dan Shak, Dan Smith, Jennifer Tilly, and the latest WPT champion Chris Moorman.
Riess, the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, exited in Level 7 when he ran 10♠10♦ into Grant Hillman's J♦J♣. A third player at the table informed Riess that they had folded the other two tens, and the Main Event champ received no help on a board of 5♣3♥3♣Q♥3♠.
Serock, the Season X WPT Player of the Year, moved all in on a completed board of 10♠2♦2♥Q♦6♠ with K♦K♥, and Tom Spruitenburg called with 2♣2♠ for quad deuces.
Lindley moved all in on a flop of 8♠4♠2♣ with A♦A♥, but was drawing very thin against Ajmani Nipun's 8♥8♦. Neither the turn nor the river was an ace, and Nipun picked up the $2,500 bounty along with Lindley's medallion.
The cards will be back in the air at 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday, where the entire field of 297 players will be under one roof. Due to the record field size, the first six levels will be an hour long. Play will conclude at 2:00 a.m. local time or at 36 players, whichever comes first.
Be sure to check back to PokerNews for a recap of the day's events.
*Photo and data courtesy of the WPT Live Blog
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