A larger field with bigger names on the second of two Day 1 flights helped the 2010 WPT Legends of Poker almost double attendance from last year in Los Angles Saturday.
The 276 Day 1b players helped make the tournament total 462, dwarfing last year’s 279.
Former Legends champs John Phan and Prahlad Friedman were among the starters, but they were also among those hit the bricks early, joining a long list of big names busting that included Daniel Negreanu, Matt Stout, Lee Markholt, Scott Seiver, David Chui, Daniel Alaei, Eric Baldwin and Kathy Liebert – Who just happened to be playing her record 100th WPT on the day.
Although it was the likely cause for the rise numbers, the fact the buy-in was dropped from $10k to $5k means there will be no WPT made millionaires walking out of the Bike this time around.
The 462 entrants helped create a $2,151,072 prize pool from which 45 places will be paid with $750k reserved for first.
153 players survived Day 1b including names like Justin Young, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Sebock, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Jonathan Little, Shane Schleger and Adam Levy.
But while he might receive more notoriety for the vanishing act he pulled at the 2007 WSOP than his more than $2.5 million in career earnings, it was a suddenly resurgent Vinny Vinh who grabbed the end of Day 1b chip lead.
A total of 243 players will hit the felt for Day 2 at the Bike Sunday.
From PokerListings.com

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