WPT Legends of Poker Tournament
August 26 - 30, 2006
The Bicycle Casino Bell Gardens, CA

The WPT Legends of Poker Tournament being held at the Bicycle Casino will take place over a five day period with a first prize of $1,500,000 to the winner of the event. Approximately 500 top level professional players are expected to compete. One change is that the entry fee was raised from $5,000 to $10,000 which would not only narrow the field but raise the overall level of talent as there were no signs of players gaining entry from online poker rooms.

August 26 -- Legends of Poker Day 1A
Play began at 2:00 p.m. for the first half of the field numbering 234 entrants for the WPT event at the Bicycle. There were a lot of top notch players who showed including last year's champion Alex Kahaner, 3rd and 4th place Main Event Final Table players Michael Binger and Allen Cunningham, Kathy Liebert, Doyle Brunson, T.J. Cloutier, David Chiu, Erik Seidel, Harry Demetriou, Scotty Nguyen, Cyndy Violette, Johnny Chan, Sean McCabe, Roland De Wolfe, Minh Ly and Hoyt Corkins to name a few. Phil Hellmuth showed up 2 1/2 hours after the tournament start. Players began with $20,000 stacks with $100/$50 blinds for the first round.

Eliminations came slowly as most approached each other cautiously. Some who went out include Harry Demetriou, Casey Kastle, Joe Awada, Daniel Alaei, Ted Forrest, Johnny Chan, Patrik Antonius, Doyle Brunson and Tom Franklin. Chau Giang left with help from Tuan Le after Le drew a higher two pair while holding an A 6 hand. Hellmuth received a time out penalty for dropping an f-bomb during play. He also threw down his hand and knocked over a small table after losing a hand to Eric Seidel's all in move. Seidel's win on that hand resulted in him winning a big 41,000 plus pot from Hellmuth.

Tuan Le was on fire as he took off building his stack to over 150,000 chips. 2nd position seems to be tied with Gabe Kaplan and Barry Shulman each holding 85,000 chips. Scotty Nguyen locked 3rd with 65,000, Hoyt Corkins has 4th with 63,500, James Van Alstyne 5th with 61,000 and Jon Friedberg in 6th with 57,500. Day 1A ended close to midnight. Day 1B will start at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday August 27th. Official results are posted below.

1. Tuan Le -- 150,000 chips
2. Barry Shulman -- 85,000 chips (tied)
2. Gabe Kaplan -- 85,000 chips (tied)
3. Scotty Nguyen -- 65,000 chips
4. Hoyt Corkins -- 63,500 chips
5. James Van Alstyne -- 61,000 chips
6. Jon Friedberg -- 57,500 chips

August 27 -- Legends of Poker Day 1B
A total of 460 players is the official count for the tournament. We now have the payout structure for the tournament with money going to the top 45. Prize pool reached $4,436,500. Here are the cash prizes for the final table participants:

1. $1,577,170 + $25,000 seat to the WPT Championship
2. $776,385
3. $381,540
4. $226,260
5. $177,460
6. $133,095

August 28 -- Legends of Poker Day 2
Today both of the remaining players in fields 1A and 1B sat down to see who will move on to be one step closer to a $1,577,170 first prize. Play began with blinds at $300/$600 with an $75 ante. Freddy Deeb went to the rail within the first 15 min when his Ad Kd could not hold up to Phil Laak's pocket Queens. Others who went out include Roland De Wolfe, Paul Wasicka, Chad Brown, Michael Mizrachi, Chip Jett, Erik Seidel, Tobey Maguire, Mel Judah, John Phan and Phil Hellmuth Jr. after his full house 5's over 9's was beaten by a player who ended up having a bigger full house with 10's over 9's.

Jennifer Tilly was a steamroller winning huge pots, who even outlasted her boyfriend Phil Laak until she lost an all in battle with Danny Smith. Tuan Le also grabbed his share of chips making it to second in the chip standings. Barry Shulman did well in today's table action and was responsible for busting Gabe Kaplan when his As 10s outdid Kaplan's Qd Jd after Kaplan went all in. Barry will move on to Day 3 along with Scotty Nguyen 292,000, Erick Lindgren 226,000, Huck Seed 150,000, Vanessa Rousso 132,000 and John Juanda with 112,000. Just before 2:00 a.m. play ends and there are 50 players left to move on to Day 3.

1. Bernard Ko -- 875,000 chips
2. Javid Javani -- 553,000 chips
3. Barry Shulman -- 402,000 chips
4. Joe Pelton -- 385,000 chips
5. Darren Neishuler -- 357,000 chips
6. Scotty Nguyen -- 352,500 chips

August 29 -- Legends of Poker Day 3
Today was actually a tough day for the players as the money was close for those who survived. With an actual number of 50 players hitting the tables and the top 45 being paid, 5 would have the numbing reality of earning nothing for all their hard work. Action began with $3,000/$6,000 blinds with $300 antes at 2:00 p.m. And two hours after the start, Mel Weiner lost his last $1,000 chip in an all in against Tim Phan and became the bubble boy going out in 46th place. In the next two minutes after Mel Weiner went to the sidelines, Jennifer Leigh, Jon Lee, Tony Ma and Vanessa Rousso busted out of the tournament. Others who followed include Paramjit Gil, William Litchfield, Erick Lindgren, Marcello Del Grosso, Tuan Le, Huck Seed and Ron Faltinsky. Barry Shulman left after being busted by Hoyt Corkins. Corkins also busted out John Juanda on the way to the WPT final table.

Scotty Nguyen was well over a million chips, but was hit hard by Joe Pelton and Frankie O'Dell each doubling up after winning hands against Nguyen. But Scotty still had enough chips to make the WPT final table. And after David Daneshgar lost an all in move to Kevin O'Donnell to leave in 7th place, the last 6 players for the championship were decided. Action will begin at 5:00 p.m. and will be filmed of course by WPT to be shown on The Travel Channel.

1. Frankie O�Dell -- 3,880,000 chips
2. Kevin O�Donnell -- 2,345,000 chips
3. Randy Holland -- 1,100,000 chips
4. Hoyt Corkins -- 1,030,000 chips
5. Joe Pelton -- 615,000 chips
6. Scotty Nguyen -- 375,000 chips

August 30 -- Legends of Poker Final Table
We have a champion in what had to be the shortest final table in WPT history. Play began at 5:15 p.m. and ended at 8:48 p.m. just 3 1/2 hours in length. Blinds began with $15,000/$30,000 with a $3,000 ante. 45 min from the start, the first elimination took place when Scotty Nguyen lost a hand to Hoyt Corkins. Scotty had A K, Hoyt had A 7 and once the board produced another 7 for Hoyt, it was time for Scotty to pick up his money for 6th place. In the very next hand Randy Holland went out in 5th after being busted by Kevin O'Donnell. But then Kevin O'Donnell goes out in 4th place after a mysterious hand with Frankie O'Dell. Kevin limped in and Frankie raised $250,000 after which Kevin moved all in with close to 2 million in chips of which Frankie called. Frankie had Ad Qd with Kevin producing 7c 6d. The board produced Qc Jh 4s 6c 9s which sent Kevin to the rail. This bust resulted in Frankie having over 5 million in chips.

At close to 7:45 p.m., the blinds are at $40,000/$80,000 with a $10,000 ante. This is when Hoyt Corkins loses an all in challenge with Joe Pelton after his pocket 3's could not hold up to Pelton's J 10 after another J hit the board. Hoyt goes out in 3rd place. Now it is heads up time between Joe Pelton and Frankie O'Dell. After a little over 1 hour from Hoyt's departure the final hand is played. Here is what happened. Joe raised to $400,000 preflop and Frankie went all in of which Joe quickly called. Joe shows Ac 7c and Frankie has pocket 6's. The table showed Ad Jh 3s 2c Qs giving Joe the paired Aces and the win.

1. Joe Pelton -- $1,577,170 + $25,000 seat to the WPT Championship
2. Frankie O'Dell -- $776,385
3. Hoyt Corkins -- $381,540
4. Kevin O'Donnell -- $226,260
5. Randy Holland -- $177,460
6. Scotty Nguyen -- $133,095