The World Poker Tour has returned to partypoker with the WPT500 festival with 25 numbered events from March 7-25.
Two of the events boast tasty $1 million guarantees for a buy-in of $530, including the WPT #01: WPT 500 on March 7-16 and the WPT #13: WPT500 Knockout on March 15-23.
The WPT #01: WPT500 is down to a final table of nine players with all players guaranteed at least a $13,802 payout. Andrii Novak will enter tonight’s action in the captain’s chair with the chip lead and his eyes on the $181,545 top prize.
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WPT500 Day 2 Action
Yesterday’s WPT500 action began with the final of nine opening flights. The lofty $1 million guarantee was already met before the flight began and the field grew to 2,420 entrants to generate a $1,211,000 prize pool by the time late registration was closed.
Day 2 began shortly after the conclusion of Day 1h with 361 players advancing to Day 2 with at least a min-cash in their pocket worth $1,086. Manuel Ruivo began the day with the chip lead but was unable to parlay this into a final table appearance after bowing out in 63rd place for $2,362.
Four partypoker Ambassadors advanced to Day 2 but none found their way to the final table. Kristen Bicknell was the last Ambassador remaining. She was eliminated in 80th place for $2,016 with fellow partypoker Ambassadors Patrick Leonard (174th – $1,366), Dzmitry Urbanovich (255th – $1,189), and Matthew Staples (281st – $1,189) all finding themselves on the rail earlier.
The day ended after the eliminations of Daniel Smiljovic and Day 1a chip leader Roman Matveichuk in 10th and 11th places for $10,323 to set-up tonight’s nine-max final table.
Andrii Novak Leads the partypoker WPT500 Final Table
The final table will kick off tonight at 8:05 p.m. GMT with blinds at 2,500,000/5,000,000/625,000a and increasing slowly at every 24 minutes. The action will be broadcasted on a small delay with hole cards exposed on the partypoker TV Twitch and YouTube channels with James Dempsey and Henry Kilbane providing a blow-by-blow commentatary until a winner is crowned.
Novak enters tonight’s action with a tournament-leading stack of 241,624,576. Meanwhile, Lukas Wimmer (190,243,307), Stoyan Kitanov (175,842,504), Dylan Rowe (162,834,053), and Deividas Kvaselis (110,453,978) will also start off with stacks north of 100 million in chips.
Don’t count the players with shorter stacks out just yet as there are many accomplished pros in this group with Pedro Padilha Chaves (94,463,576), David Singontiko (94,243,469), Aaron Been (84,330,612), and Brandon Adams (47,481,660) rounding off the final table.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrii Novak | Ukraine | 241,624,576 | 48 |
| 2 | Lukas Wimmer | Austria | 190,243,307 | 38 |
| 3 | Stoyan Kitanov | Bulgaria | 175,842,504 | 35 |
| 4 | Dylan Glen Rowe | New Zealand | 162,834,053 | 33 |
| 5 | Deividas Kzaselis | Lithuania | 110,453,978 | 22 |
| 6 | Pedro Padilha Chaves | Brazil | 94,463,576 | 19 |
| 7 | David Singontiko | Netherlands | 94,243,469 | 19 |
| 8 | Aaron Been | Mexico | 84,330,612 | 17 |
| 9 | Brandon Adams | Canada | 47,481,660 | 9 |
| Total | 1,201,517,735 | 240 | ||
| Average | 133,501,971 | 27 |
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $181,545 |
| 2 | $123,255 |
| 3 | $84,064 |
| 4 | $55,719 |
| 5 | $37,895 |
| 6 | $28,887 |
| 7 | $22,358 |
| 8 | $17,716 |
| 9 | $13,802 |
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Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour Flickr account