The second day of play at the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago event occurred on Wednesday. When the smoke cleared, two PocketFivers found themselves perched atop the leader board at the Bellagio, the site of the marquee WPT event. Blake Balla-B13 Cahail (pictured) and Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo hold the second and third largest chip stacks, respectively. Everyone at the Bellagio trails Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu, who sits with 513,100, about 50,000 chips more than Calhail. Day 3 kicks off today at 12:00 Noon Pacific Time. Let’s check out which PocketFivers we can expect to see when play resumes.
Cahail finished Day 2 with 467,500, which was good for second place. In February, he logged three top 10 finishes in tournaments held as part of a World Series of Poker Circuit Event at Horseshoe Council Bluffs. He followed that up with three more cashes at the 2008 WSOP in Las Vegas for a total of $50,000. In July, Cahail took down the $150 buy-in $65,000 Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker, banking $25,000. His big claim to fame, however, is winning the PokerStars Sunday Million last November outright for $190,000. The Columbia, Missouri native has also won the Ultimate Bet $200K Guaranteed.
Hot on Cahail’s trail is Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo, a member of Team Bodog. Bonomo has 383,300 chips, good for third among the 104 players remaining in the field. He took second in a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event during the 2008 WSOP, pocketing $230,000. That tournament was ultimately won by Erick Lindgren, who took home his first bracelet. Bonomo bubbled the final table of the Season V Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic, finishing seventh and pocketing $152,000. He is fresh off an eighth place finish in the WPT’s last stop, the Borgata Poker Open.
Although PocketFivesLive.com, which provides live WPT coverage of online poker players in the biggest live events, is not at the Festa al Lago, its Tournament Reporter, Court Harrington, made the trip. He told PocketFives, “Justin is one of the deepest thinkers and most well-rounded theorists in the game. His application is as good as his theory and if you had to pick final table with over 100 players left, I would expect Bonomo to be on almost everyone’s lists.”
Sitting with the eighth largest chip stack (321,200) after Day 2 is Jamie thecronic420 Rosen. He has a variety of impressive wins online, including a $40,000 payday for taking down the $200 rebuy on PokerStars back in June. He won the $100 rebuy one month later, also on Stars, for $30,000 and finished 81st in the World Championship of Online Poker for $16,000.
In live play, Rosen notched two cashes during the 2008 WSOP for a combined $108,000, including an eighth place finish in a $1,000 rebuy No Limit Hold’em event for $79,000. Harrington added, “Again, Jamie is showing up with a ton of chips. Tournament after tournament, he builds a huge stack. A breakthrough for a deep run is sure to come soon.”
At least one-quarter of the field remaining at the Bellagio is composed of PocketFivers, which should make for a very exciting conclusion to the Festa al Lago. In fact, five out of the top 10 chip stacks entering Day 3 are held by members of the online poker community. The tournament will crown a champion on Sunday.
PocketFivers remaining include, but are certainly not limited to:
2. Blake Balla-B13 Cahail, 467,500
3. Justin ZeeJustin Bonomo, 383,300
7. Joe JoeSebok Sebok, 327,200
8. Jamie thecronic420 Rosen, 321,200
10. Matt All In At 420 Stout, 298,900
23. Johannes Busto_Soon Van Til, 212,200
26. Adam Roothlus Levy, 199,600
30. Peter number1Pen Neff, 190,000
34. Andrew Good2cu Robl, 186,100
40. Alec Traheho Torelli, 173,300
43. Jeremiah Believer82 Vinsant, 170,100
46. Bertrand Elky Grospellier, 161,000
53. Joe ender55 Ebanks, 145,400
58. Scott BigRiskky Clements, 134,800
60. Isaac Mr. Menlo Baron, 131,600
70. J.C. PrtyPSux Alvarado, 107,200
71. Bryan badbeatninja Devonshire, 99,300
79. Peter Nordberg Feldman, 89,500
83. Tim Tmay420 West, 83,200
93. Theo pittrounder Tran
94. Jonathan FatalError Aguiar, 47,100
95. Jon pokertrip Friedberg, 46,300
96. Michael inissint Glasser, 43,900
99. Barry barryg1 Greenstein, 35,400
The top 10 chip stacks overall are:
1. Daniel Negreanu, 513,100
2. Blake Cahail, 467,500
3. Justin Bonomo, 383,300
4. Nenad Medic, 345,600
5. J.C. Tran, 337,900
6. Jennifer Tilly, 330,800
7. Joe Sebok, 327,200
8. Jamie Rosen, 321,200
9. Clemenceau Calixto, 310,200
10. Matt Stout, 298,900
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