The World Poker Tour has returned to partypoker with the WPT500 festival. The festival features 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: WPT500 on March 7-16 and the WPT #13: WPT500 Knockout on March 15-23.
Last week, Dylan Rowe bested a field of 2,420 entrants in the WPT #01: WPT500 to win the $181,545 top prize.
The other $1 million guaranteed event is also in its final stages with the WPT #13: WPT500 Knockout down to its nine-player final table. Last night, Armin Rezaei will enter tonight's action in the captain's chair with the chip lead and his eyes on the $76,275 top prize, along with any bounties collected along the way.
Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest partypoker news right here on PokerNews? Why not try out the new partypoker Hub!
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Bounties Collected | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armin Rezaei | Malta | $7,158 | 284,050,862 | 81 |
| 2 | David Lopez Llacer | United Kingdom | $13,004 | 259,235,475 | 74 |
| 3 | Benjamin Chalot | Netherlands | $6,691 | 222,740,522 | 64 |
| 4 | Duff Charette | Canada | $5,113 | 153,598,250 | 44 |
| 5 | Gustavo Mastelotto | Brazil | $5,398 | 147,332,403 | 42 |
| 6 | Jeroen Van Dijck | Netherlands | $5,297 | 92,527,986 | 26 |
| 7 | Robert Svedin | Sweden | $7,361 | 64,029,759 | 18 |
| 8 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | $8,742 | 42,228,017 | 12 |
| 9 | Gediminas Uselis | Lithuania | $7,898 | 34,618,320 | 10 |
| Total | 1,300,361,594 | 372 | |||
| Average | 144,484,622 | 41 |
WPT500 Knockout Day 2 Action
Yesterday's WPT500 action began with the final of eight opening flights. The lofty $1 million guarantee was already met before the flight began and the field grew to 2,601 entrants to generate a $1,300,500 prize pool by the time late registration was closed.
Day 2 began shortly after the conclusion of Day 1g with 390 players advancing to Day 2 with at least a min-cash in their pocket worth $541. Boris Kolev began the day with the chip lead but was unable to parlay this into a final table appearance after bowing out in 133rd place for $818 in addition to $1,438 in bounties.
Diego Ventura, who entered Day 2 in second place, made a few spots further than Kolev finishing in 128th place for $818 in prize money plus $1,313 in bounties.
Meanwhile, Aleksandr Shepel, who began the day in third place advanced much deeper and made it until near the end of the day before hitting the rail in 11th place for $5,491 plus $12,799 in bounties.
Julio Ribeiro was the last player eliminated on Day 2 with play stopping after he finished in 10th place for $5,491 plus $5,675 in bounties.
Armin Rezaei Leads the partypoker WPT500 Knockout Final Table
The final table will kick off tonight at 8:05 p.m. GMT with blinds at 1,750,000/3,500,000/437,500a and increasing every 16 minutes for the first two levels of the day before the structure becomes even slower with 24-minute blind levels. All returning players are guaranteed at least a ninth-place payout of $7,352 plus any bounties collected.
The action will be broadcasted on a small delay with hole cards exposed on the partypoker TV Twitch and YouTube channels from the beginning until the end. There is plenty of action to be had with players starting with 41 big blinds on average.
Rezaei enters tonight's action with a tournament-leading stack of 284,050,862, which is good for 81 big blinds. David Lopez Llacer (259,235,275) and Benjamin Chalot (222,740,522) will also head into the final day with more than 200 million in chips, while Duff Charette (153,598,250) and Gustavo Mastelotto (147,332,403) also will start with nine-figure chip stacks.
Don't count the players with shorter stacks out just yet as there are many accomplished pros in this group with Jeroen Van Dijck (92,527,986), Robert Svedin (64,029,759), Aliaksei Boika (42,228,017), and Gediminas Uselis (34,618,320) rounding off the final table.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $76,275 |
| 2 | $76,143 |
| 3 | $48,993 |
| 4 | $32,193 |
| 5 | $21,762 |
| 6 | $16,518 |
| 7 | $11,929 |
| 8 | $9,446 |
| 9 | $7,352 |
*Prizes are in addition to any bounties collected.
Join partypoker and Grab Up to €40 Worth of Tickets
Now is the time to download partypoker via PokerNews because new depositing players can get their hands on up to $30 worth of SPINS and tournament tickets.
Deposit $10 to receive $10 worth of free tickets over the course of a week, increase that initial deposit to $20 and $30 worth of tickets are all yours.
Download partypoker via PokerNews, make your first-ever real money deposit, and enjoy up to $30 worth of tickets.
Tickets awarded for a $10 deposit:
- Day 1: 2x $1 SPINS tickets + 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
- Day 2: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets
- Day 4: 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
- Day 6: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets
Tickets awarded for a $20 deposit:
- Day 1: 1x $5 SPINS ticket + 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
- Day 2: 2x $1 SPINS ticket + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
- Day 4: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
- Day 6: 2x $3 SPINS tickets + 1x$3.30 MTT ticket
Lead image courtesy of the World Poker Tour Flickr account
