USCphildo, Guillaume Darcout Among WPT Bellagio Cup Day 1 Leaders
Despite going head-to-head with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event during much of its run, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup VI kicked off on Sunday in Las Vegas and attracted a starting grid of 243 players. The day began with WPT officials reviewing a bundle of changes on tap for Season 9, including the return of Kimberly Lansing and the debut of the Royal Flush Girls, who will attend every event on this cycle of the tour. In addition, Matt Savage was formally introduced as the WPT’s Executive Tour Director and will serve as a liaison among players, casinos, and tournament officials.
Also occurring at the beginning of the day on Sunday at the Bellagio Cup was the presentation of the Season 8 Player of the Year trophy, which went to PocketFives.com member and DoylesRoomBrunson 10 candidate Faraz The-Toilet Jaka. The Illinois native made four top 20 finishes during Season 8 and recorded two final tables, including a runner-up finish in last year’s Bellagio Cup.
When the smoke cleared, Guillaume GUILLAUME DARCOURT Darcourt amassed a field-pacing stack of 252,300, about 80,000 more than the second place stack of Joseph Miceli. Philip USCphildoCollins (pictured) owns the fourth spot on the leaderboard at 144,350. If you’re reading this and entering the Bellagio Cup sounds like a good use of $10,000, registration is open until the first level of play on Tuesday, when Day 3 will take place.
Former WPT Player of the Year and current Victory Pokerpro Jonathan FieryJusticeLittle (pictured) was one of the first casualties of the Bellagio Cup. After dropping a pot with an eight-high flush to a queen-high flush, Little whiffed on a flush draw to cripple his stack. Then, he shoved his remaining chips into the middle with 8-5 suited, but ran into A-K.
Former Bellagio Cup champion Kevin BeL0WaB0VeSaul (pictured) also hit the rails on Sunday. Saul moved all-in with A-8 of clubs after the turn on a board of 7-6-2-4 with two of the suit. However, seven-time bracelet winner Billy Baxter made the call for his tournament life with pocket jacks and a red four hit on the river. Saul hit the skids on the next hand after having won this tournament in 2007 for $1.3 million.
Newly minted DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Dan djk123Kelly (pictured), fresh off a bracelet win down the street at the Rio, was all-in pre-flop at the Bellagio with K-10 offsuit. His opponent showed A-6 and promptly flopped two pair, leaving him all but drawing dead on the turn and river. Kelly took down the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the WSOP for $1.3 million.
Doubling up at the 11th hour to make it past Day 1 was Jason JP_OSU Potter (pictured), who was all-in with A-K on a jack-high flop. Ran Azor came along with pocket tens and watched in horror as Potter spiked a king on the turn. Potter ended Sunday’s action with a stack of 50,850, good for 87th overall.
Here are the top 10 in chips after Day 1 of the WPT Bellagio Cup VI:
1. Guillaume GUILLAUME DARCOURT Darcourt – 252,300
2. Joseph Miceli – 171,575
3. Darren Kramer – 152,000
4. Philip USCphildoCollins – 144,350
5. Billy Baxter – 140,000
6. Paola Martin – 138,500
7. Anthony Gregg – 128,650
8. Eric p3achy_keen Liu – 125,050
9. John Courtney – 122,300
10. Sam KingKobeMVPStein – 120,075
When play paused on Sunday, the blinds were at 200-400 with an ante of 50. Other members of the online poker community remaining include:
11. Vivek PsyduckRajkumar – 118,900
12. Eric sheetsHaber – 118,425
17. Jonathan therookieqq9Plens – 111,575
32. Cory UGOTPZDCarroll – 86,325
34. Markus LURPEDGonsalves – 85,825
42. Ravi govshark2Raghavan – 78,550
60. Justin ZeeJustinBonomo – 63,825
68. Thuy ShesNoGoodDoan – 58,625
77. Aaron aaronbeenBeen – 54,850
82. Justin Boosted J Smith – 52,800
87. Jason JP_OSU Potter – 50,850
108. Eric whitE_mAmbA Ladny – 40,975
111. Annette Annette_15 Obrestad – 38,825
113. Joe pokerjoe9Elpayaa – 38,250
116. Mike SirWattsWatson – 37,100
131. Stephen MrTimCaumO’Dwyer – 31,650
132. Olivier livb112Busquet – 31,300
133. Jared dareyou2callJaffee – 31,150
136. Shawn flexicomCunix – 28,050
142. Mohsin chicagocards1Charania – 24,925
155. Alexandre AllingomesGomes – 16,600
Gomes defeated Jaka in the Bellagio Cup last year to bank $1.2 million. Then, it sported a buy-in of $15,000, which has since been cut to $10,000. Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest WPT coverage of online poker players.
