While one part of Vegas is busy in the WSOP, there is another place in Vegas where there is some intense poker action from the World Poker Tour(WPT) going on. Notwithstanding the massive turnout at WSOP, The WPT500 is taking place at the Aria Resort and Casino and has seen a tremendous response itself with 3599 entrants in the six starting Day 1 flights together vying for the top prize of $260,000.
When going to press, Scott Clements was leading on Day 2 after dinner break with 5,530,000 chips but he had sizeable competition from Christian Harder and Jeffrey Ray. The game will continue on Day 2 and a champion will be crowned who will take the lions share of the $1.8 Million prize pool.
Day 2 had begun with around 176 players on the board and has been a long day at work. It has taken 6 levels of play for the field to come down to 21 and play is expected to go on for many hours till the final man standing emerges.
This is the inaugural $565 partypoker WPT500 at ARIA Resort & Casino and the 176 who started Day 2 were guaranteed at least $1,250, and the final 27 earn a pay bump up to $10,000. A final table appearance is worth a minimum of $26,000, and six-figure prizes await the three longest lasters. The winner gets $260,000 plus the first WPT500 trophy!
All WPT500 final table participants (final 9 players) will receive a buy-in to next year’s WPT500 at ARIA along with hotel accommodation. The winner of WPT500 at ARIA will get a $2,000 package to the upcoming partypoker presents: WPT500 at Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, UK. This event is scheduled to take place from November 11-16, 2014. It will feature a buy-in of £500 and a guaranteed prize pool of £1,000,000.
Some of the notables remaining in foray for the WPT500 honours apart from Clements include Kazu Oshima and Andy Hwang.
OPN will bring you the news when the WPT500 Aria Champion is crowned.