The players remaining in the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Championship can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they’ve reached the money.
At 9:30 p.m. PT on Day 2 Sunday night, the bubble burst with the 59th place finisher’s elimination, and that was none other than the 2013 world champion Ryan Riess. A min-cash is worth $6,400, but the final 58 out of 459 entrants all have their sights set on the $296,600 first place prize, to be awarded on Tuesday.
With 61 players remaining, three spots shy of the money, the shot of a repeat champion came to an end when Scott Eskenazi moved all in with a small pocket pair and just a few big blinds, but ran into pocket aces and was eliminated. Eskenazi won this event last year for $361,600, beating out 590 entrants, the largest in WPT Rolling Thunder history.
Riess, who had been sitting on a short stack for quite some time, was attempting to sneak his way into the money, and he almost did it. But he found himself in the big blind with crumbs and J♣2♠, and was all in against his opponent’s 9♥7♥. The board came out Q♦9♦9♣3♥K♦, and that was all she wrote for Riess, who wished his table “good luck” on the way out in 59th place.
Sepiol Continues Heater
In December, Dan Sepiol won his first WPT title in the biggest event in the tour’s history, the $40 million guaranteed WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, for $5.3 million. Despite winning life-changing money and an event any tournament player dreams about, he isn’t stopping there.
On Day 2, Sepiol reached the money with well over 100 big blinds. No doubt he’ll be among the favorites going forward. But he isn’t the only crusher still with a shot at winning a major poker tournament this week. Shannon Shorr, Brock Wilson, and Stephen Song were among those still battling at the time of publishing.
At 9:00 p.m. local time in Northern California, hand-for-hand play began following the last 15-minute break of the day. Short stacks had to sweat it out until the bubble burst.
WPT Rolling Thunder Payouts
| Player | Chip Stack |
|---|---|
| 1st Place | $296,600 |
| 2nd Place | $185,500 |
| Final Table Minimum | $60,000 |
| Final Table Bubble (7th Place) | $46,000 |
| First Pay Jump (47th Place) | $7,000 |
| Minimum Cash | $6,400 |
While those who reached the money are celebrating and breathing a sigh of relief, many familiar faces weren’t fortunate enough to survive the day, including Tony Burns, Cherish Andrews, Chris Moorman, Brian Altman, and David “ODB” Baker.
Nearly two hours of play remained following the Riess bust-out on Day 2. PokerNews will have a full recap of the day’s action at its conclusion.
*Images courtesy of WPT/Drew Amato.
