Ari Oxman Leads WPT Venetian; Nine Former Champions Still in Contention
Table Of Contents
Day 2 of the WPT Venetian saw the field whittled down to 39 players from 340, with a host of big names still in contention for the $910,370 first prize.
Leading the way is Ari Oxman ahead of Tim McDermott, Mike Liang, Stephen Song and Sergii Baranov. These five players all bagged over 100 big blinds ahead of Day 3.
partypoker Ambassador Jason Koon sits comfortably inside the top 10 and is eyeing a first WPT title of his career.
The WPT Has Announced the Return of Live Poker Events
WPT Venetian Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ari Oxman | United States | 3,310,000 | 132 |
| 2 | Tim McDermott | United States | 3,120,000 | 125 |
| 3 | Mike Liang | United States | 2,750,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Stephen Song | United States | 2,735,000 | 109 |
| 5 | Sergii Baranov | Ukraine | 2,670,000 | 107 |
| 6 | Jason Koon | United States | 2,435,000 | 97 |
| 7 | Arie Kliper | Israel | 2,135,000 | 85 |
| 8 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | 2,090,000 | 84 |
| 9 | Matt Bond | United States | 1,945,000 | 78 |
| 10 | Landen Lucas | United States | 1,850,000 | 74 |
Day 2 Recap
The chip leader coming into Day 2 was Jimmy D'Ambrosio, but he would bust short of the money. Others to do so include reigning Player of the Year champion Brian Altman who was eliminated by Stephen Chidwick, and Ryan Riess who ran kings into the aces of Kathy Liebert.
Daniel Negreanu also bowed out, the former WPT champion tanglign with another as Pat Lyons' pocket aces sent "Kid Poker" to the rail.
Jean Gaspard had lead the field for a period, and burst the bubble by flopping a set of threes to crack the pocket kings of Ting-Yi Tsai. That guaranteed the field $8,915, with Andrew Lichtenberger, Marle Cordeiro and Christian Harder busting just in the money.
Other notable players to cash included Sam Panzica (125th - $9,270), Joe Cada (124th - $9,270), Cliff Josephy (119th - $9,270), Nate Silver (100th - $9,760), Nick Petrangelo (95th - $10,415), Anthony Zinno (93rd - $10,415), Darren Elias (82nd - $11,250), and Chance Kornuth (42nd - $19,920).
The remaining players will return for Day 3 on Tuesday, July 6 at 12:00 pm.
Related: Ivey Sweeps Antonius to Win WPT HU Poker Championship
Nine Former WPT Champions
Such is the talent present in the WPT Venetian field, almost a quarter of the field is a former WPT champion. Sitting 11th in chips is John Hennigan (pictured) who won his WPT title back in January 2007, ahead of WPT commentator Tony Dunst and former WPT World Championship winner Keven Stammen.
Two players will be looking to win their third WPT title, with Tony Tran and Michael Mizrachi sitting on around 30 big blinds each.
Although the shortest of the former champions, Ben Palmer's WPT title came in the inaugural WPT Venetian in March 2019, defeating a field of 734 to win $431,655.
| Player | Chip Count | WPT Titles |
|---|---|---|
| John Hennigan | 1,680,000 | Borgata Poker Classic (January 2007) |
| Tony Dunst | 1,550,000 | WPT Caribbean (November 2013) |
| Keven Stammen | 940,000 | WPT World Championship (April 2014) |
| Pat Lyons | 860,000 | WPT Legends of Poker (September 2016) |
| Tony Tran | 750,000 | WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble (October 2018) & WPT Rolling Thunder (March 2020) |
| Scotty Nguyen | 730,000 | World Poker Open (January 2006) |
| Michael Mizrachi | 630,000 | L.A. Poker Classic (February 2005) & Borgata Poker Classic (January 2006) |
| Harrison Gimbel | 580,000 | WPT Rolling Thunder (March 2016) |
| Ben Palmer | 390,000 | WPT Venetian (March 2019) |
Related: World Poker Tour Sold for Potentially $78 Million
WPT Venetian Payouts
A total of 150 places will be paid with a min-cash worth $8,915. Cracking the top 10 will earn a player $91,035 and the winner will walk away with $910,370 and the title. Their name will also be engraved on the Mike Sexton Cup.
| Place | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $910,370 |
| 2 | $606,890 |
| 3 | $448,755 |
| 4 | $335,200 |
| 5 | $252,945 |
| 6 | $192,855 |
| 7 | $148,580 |
| 8 | $115,685 |
| 9 | $91,035 |
| 10 | $91,035 |
Recent World Poker Tour Results
WPT Venetian marks the third Main Event of the WPT Season 19 after the WPT Online Series on partypoker and WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, won by Brian Altman.
It's been a busy few months for the World Poker Tour, so why not check out this list of event recaps right here on PokerNews!
- June 2021 - Reigning WPT POY Brian Altman Wins WPT Tampa for Third WPT Title
- June 2021 - Phil Ivey Wins WPT Heads-Up Poker Championship
- June 2021 - Christian Rudolph Wins WPT Online Series Main Event
- May 2021 - Brek Schutten Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
- May 2021 - Balakrishna Patur Wins the WPT L.A. Poker Classic
- May 2021 - Veerab Zakarian Wins WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open
*Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour/Joe Giron
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
