WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

There were a flurry of raises preflop between John Hennigan on the button and Aaron Mermelstein in the big blind. Hennigan raised to 2,000 and Mermelstein made it 6,600.

Hennigan tanked for a few moments and tossed in his time bank chip to take an extra 30 seconds on the hand. Hennigan raised to 14,000 and Mermelstein bet enough to put Hennigan all in. Hennigan called and was all in for 51,550.

It was a flip for Hennigan’s tournament life with his up against Mermelstein’s .

The board ran out and Hennigan doubled up.

John Hennigan – 103,250
Aaron Mermelstein – 18,500

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

No sooner do we invoke the Dan Smith name, the man himself comes rolling into the meeting room ready to go. He came straight from the airport, luggage and all, to the tournament room and received his “action clock” instructions personally from Tournament Director Tony Burns.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

The WPT Tournament of Champions grew by one entrant but it didn’t really grow at the tables quite yet. Dan Smith, 2013 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Champion, is running a little late and bought into the tournament before setting a foot in the casino today.

But this isn’t your standard late reg. Smith had airline problems getting out of Canada but he is reported to be in the area and on his way. The slow structure and deep stacks will keep him cruising along until he can get here.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 3: 150/300 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 63

Players have returned from their first break and a familiar face leads them all. Griffin Paul earned his seat into the WPT Tournament of Championship this time last year when he won the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship.

He has a big early stack, mostly from busting newly minted WPT Player of the Year Mike Shariati.

Griffin Paul – 125,000 (417 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 88,000 (293 bb)
Amir Babakhani – 85,000 (283 bb)
Darren Elias – 75,000 (250 bb)
Jonathan Jaffe – 72,000 (240 bb)
Michael Mizrachi – 69,000 (230 bb)
Mike Scarborough – 66,000 (220 bb)
Guillaume Darcourt – 64,000 (213 bb)
Matthew Waxman – 64,000 (213 bb)
Tyler Patterson – 60,000 (200 bb)
Taylor von Kriegenbergh – 59,000 (197 bb)

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 63

The WPT Tournament of Champion players is heading off on the first break of the day. Players actually don’t even have to leave the room for a breather. We have set up a nice lounge area in the back of the meeting room for players to relax, munch on some snacks, or enjoy an adult beverage.

Or they can converse with deep-thinker Phil Laak.

Time scientists use disks similar to these to send clips through the entanglement portals. @wpt #timescientist pic.twitter.com/Dm2dZEN7Oi

— Phil Laak (@PhilLaak) April 22, 2016

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 63

The player count stands at 63 with the most recent entry belonging to the top poker player in terms of cash earned. Antonio Esfandiari has taken home more than $26 million in his career with three WSOP bracelets, two WPT titles, and one WSOP Circuit ring from a few weeks ago.

The biggest part of Easfandiari’s earnings came courtesy of an $18 million for winning the WSOP Big One For One Drop $1,000,000 buy-in tournament. He won his first WSOP bracelet and WPT title in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 63

We added a few more players over the first level but we also lost our first. Brian Altman earned his seat in the WPT Tournament of Champions when he won our WPT championship here during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open but he’ll have to look to next season for his second.

Altman lost nearly 90% of his chips to Noah Schwartz when his rivered flush was no good against the rivered boat of Schwartz. The rest of them went to Shawn Cunix to send Altman out.

On top of being the first one eliminated, Altman had to stand in front of the WPT cameras and talk about it.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 59

Anthony Zinno is the reigning WPT Player of the Year but he’ll hold that title only for the duration of this event, the last of the current WPT season.

Zinno is one of four players who have captured three WPT titles (Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, and yesterday’s WPT champ Chino Rheem are the other three) and earned Player of the Year honors. He didn’t take the year off and coast after winning the title. Zinno cashed six times this season including an 11th place finish in the WPT Finale earlier this week.

This season there’s a new POY in town and Mike Shariati is here trying to end his year with a second WPT title. He earned his honor with only three cashes this year on the tour, but one was a WPT title plus a runner-up finish.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 59

Asher Conniff is one of the 59 WPT winners in the field today and he’s technically the defending champion. Though the tournament was not in this format last year, he won last year’s WPT World Championship last year at the Borgata.

That win, after he famously misclicked an online satellite to earn his seat, put his name on the Championship Cup and made him eligible to play today.

Headed down to try and defend my @WPT $15k title. Should be a really fun tournament #goinbaaaaacktoback

— Asher Conniff (@misterashmoney) April 22, 2016

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Total Players: 57

After a brief pause for announcments, introductions, and instructions, the WPT Tournament of Champions is underway.