WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players Remaining: 59 of 64

Players are back in their seats and John Hennigan continues to lead, though he lost a few chips after his Buchanan KO. Tyler Patterson and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi round out the top three as the only players over 100,000.

John Hennigan – 153,000 (306 bb)
Tyler Patterson – 116,000 (232 bb)
Michael Mizrachi – 102,000 (204 bb)
Griffin Paul – 93,000 (186 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 88,000 (176 bb)
Darren Elias – 82,000 (164 bb)
Shawn Cunix – 82,000 (164 bb)
Farid Yachou – 76,000 (152 bb)
Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 75,000 (150 bb)
Jason Brin – 75,000 (150 bb)

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

David Ormsby raised to 1,000 from the cutoff and Noah Schwartz called from the small blind. Chris Leong came along from the big blind and they saw a flop of .

Schwartz and Leong both checked before Ormsby bet 1,300. Schwartz called, Leong folded and the turn was the .

Schwartz checked and Ormsby bet 3,100. Schwartz called and the river was the . Schwartz checked and Ormsby bet 7,000. Schwartz check-raised to 40,000 which was enough to put Ormsby all in.

Ormsby took about 15 seconds before tossing his hand into the muck. Schwartz took the pot and moved over the 100,000 chip mark.

Noah Schwartz – 125,000
David Ormsby – 30,000

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

Shawn Buchanan was sent out of the WPT Tournament of Champions in a cooler hand that was destined to get the chips in the middle.

Hennigan was holding the while Buchanan had the second best monster . The board ran clean for Hennigan and Buchanan was sent out early in the day.

WPT Tournament of Champions eliminations:

Brian Altman
Mike Shariati
Kevin Eyster
Shawn Buchanan
Guillaume Darcourt

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

Everyone is all business today in the Tournament of Champions, but they had a little fun last night when we hosted a Monster WPT Welcome Reception in the wonderful L Bar.

It might have been one of the biggest gatherings of poker champs outside a poker room.

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

After a series of raises, Shawn Buchanan got all in preflop from the cutoff against John Hennigan on the button.

Buchanan was on the wrong side of a cold-deck with his up against Hennigan’s . The board ran out  and Buchanan was eliminated.

Hennigan took the pot and the chip lead.

John Hennigan – 171,000
Shawn Buchanan – Eliminated

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

It’s not been a good day for our 2014 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Champion but he’s still around. James Calderaro was down to only a few thousand chips when he got them in the middle again Adam Weinraub.

Calderaro was good with against after the board, he doubled up but still sitting one of the shorter stacks in the room.

James Calderaro – 8,500 (21 bb)
Adam Weinraub – 43,000 (108 bb)

WPT Tournament of Champions
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Players: 64

On a flop of , Anthony Zinno bet 2,500 and Keven Stammen called. Aaron Mermelstein and Jonathan Jaffe folded and they were heads-up to the turn.

Zinno checked, Stammen checked behind and the river was the . Zinno checked and Stammen bet 3,700. There was 10 seconds left on the action clock when Zinno reached for chips to call.

He tossed in the call and Stammen tabled and Zinno mucked his hand.

Keven Stammen – 81,000
Anthony Zinno – 29,000

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.