After one day of play in the inaugural World Poker Tour (WPT) Hollywood Poker Open, a familiar face in the industry sits atop the leaderboard. Eric EFro Froehlich (pictured at right), a dual World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, owns a stack of 149,400. Froehlich vaulted to the top of the pack near the end of play on Day 1 in part by doubling up three hours in. Froehlich came out on the better end of a set over set situation holding pocket kings against pocket jacks on a flop of K-J-7. Let’s check out all of the action from Day 1, which began with 143 runners.
Jason treysfull21 Mercier (pictured at left) and Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith got the day started off on the right foot by drafting six players each in a fantasy poker contest. Text found on the WPT’s website explained the unique Hollywood Poker Open draft: “Each of them will draft six players and they'll make money based on how many of their guys cash, how many reach the final table, and how high they finish at the final table.” Smith had the first overall pick and selected Jonathan FieryJustice Little. However, Little eventually hit the skids during the third level of play at the hands of Froehlich.Froehlich took the red eye in from Las Vegas and arrived at 9:00am on Saturday. He told the WPT Live Updates team following Day 1 action, “My head was on the table for a lot of the day today. I really didn’t play a lot of hands, which was not normal for me. I just wasn’t feeling good. I guess it’s harder to put me on hands because people are expecting me to be kind of crazy.”
Mercier doubled up at the expense of poker pro Dan Shak after drawing out on pocket aces with pocket kings. He ended the day at 17,325 chips, food for the 82nd largest chip stack in the Hollywood Poker Open. Mercier has been on a tear in 2010, finishing fifth in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship for $75,000 and grabbing third in the L.A. Poker Classic High Roller tournament for $141,000. During January’s Southern Poker Championship, Mercier won a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack event for $60,000.
Also making waves in the Indiana casino is Faraz The-Toilet Jaka (pictured at left), who owns the second largest stack after Day 1 at 144,225. Jaka boosted his arsenal through Team PokerStars Pro member Vanessa Rousso after turning a king-high heart flush. Jaka made two WPT final tables in 2009, finishing third in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic and second in the Bellagio Cup V for a combined $1.3 million.
Doubling up late in the day was Brock t soprano Parker (pictured at right), who cashed in on two bracelets during the 2009 WSOP. In the WPT Hollywood Poker Open, Parker committed his stack pre-flop with A-K of hearts and was up against Soheil Shamseddin's pocket queens for a classic race situation. The flop came a benign 10-5-2, but an ace on the turn sent Parker out in front for good. The hand boosted him to 60,000 in chips and he finished Day 1 with 45,325.Here are the top 10 chip stacks in the WPT Hollywood Poker Open entering Day 2 on Sunday. When the action resumes in Level 6, the blinds will be 300-600 with an ante of 75:
1. Eric EFro Froehlich – 149,400
2. Faraz The-Toilet Jaka – 144,225
3. Mike Mustafa – 114,050
4. Gevork Kasabyan – 89,500
5. Jess Yawitz – 87,875
6. Shawn Buchanan – 81,125
7. Billy Pilossoph – 79,425
8. Richard Pflum – 79,275
9. Carlos Mortensen – 78,600
10. Larry Lipman – 75,000
A bevy of members of the online poker community remain in the hunt for the top prize of $391,000. They include:
11. Tyler dabears87 Reiman – 73,450
12. Andrew luckychewy Lichtenberger – 69,400
16. Keith damurdera3 Ferrera – 64,300
20. Tyler Tydean Smith – 58,625
23. James P0KERPR033 Campbell – 57,500
28. Bryan badbeatninja Devonshire – 52,150
29. Scott Chipless Wonder Cook – 51,450
32. William Reynolds XO Reynolds – 51,000
33. John JRD312 Dolan – 50,975
35. Steven TheZadester Levy – 50,575
38. Todd tbt4653 Terry – 48,025
39. Brock t soprano Parker – 45,325
41. Frank Frank1The1Tank Calo – 43,600
47. David Davidp18 Peters – 37,675
50. Ravi govshark2 Raghavan – 34,200
55. Nick Grip Grippo – 31,525
59. Keven Stamdogg Stammen – 30,525
62. Brian SN8WMAN Hawkins – 29,700
67. Sam KingKobeMVP Stein – 27,275
70. Eric Rizen Lynch – 26,575
82. Jason treysfull21 Mercier – 17,325
92. Simon pokerbrat13 Charette – 9,925
Only the top 12 players will make the money and the tournament will award the smallest top prize in a North American WPT event since the 2006 Canadian Open Championship, which dished out $222,000. The Hollywood Poker Open will crown a champion on Wednesday. Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for WPT coverage of online poker players.
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