Record low attendance in $50K Players Championship
Ivey and Brunson nowhere to be seen as registration closes with just 84 runners entered.
There had been a few murmerings of discontent around poker's high roller community at the prospect of playing a 10-game mix at this year's WSOP $50K Poker Players Championship event, and the addition of Badugi and 2-7 Lowball appears to have deterred a few regulars from pulling up a seat.
When registration closed earlier this week - Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson both notable absentees - the final attendance was announced at 84 runners, which is the smallest field ever recorded in the event's nine year history.
Many of the larger buy-in tournaments on the WSOP schedule have seen a drop in entrants in 2015, but the magnitude of the decline in runners for this particular event might be viewed as more striking given its prestige and consistency in years gone by:
| Year | Runners | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 143 | Chip Reese | $1,784,640 |
| 2007 | 148 | Freddy Deeb | $2,276,832 |
| 2008 | 148 | Scotty Nguyen | $1,989,120 |
| 2009 | 95 | David Bach | $1,286,802 |
| 2010 | 116 | Michael Mizrachi | $1,559,046 |
| 2011 | 128 | Brian Rast | $1,720,328 |
| 2012 | 108 | Michael Mizrachi | $1,451,527 |
| 2013 | 132 | Matthew Ashton | $1,774,089 |
| 2014 | 102 | John Hennigan | $1,517,767 |
| 2015 | 84 | ? | $1,270,086 |
On the felt, Scott Seiver leads the final 47 players going into Day 3 later today having amassed 688,500 chips; he was also the chip leader at the end of Day 1.
However, as you would expect, there are a host of sharks on his tail in the hunt for the Chip Reese trophy, including 2013 champion Matthew Ashton (607,900), Ben 'Sauce123' Sulsky (425,300), the event's only double champion Michael Mizrachi (361,500), Phil Galfond (255,200), Paul Volpe (233,900) and Jason Mercier (212,400).
Patrick Leonard nears WSOP final table
Elsewhere, we're delighted to bring you the news that our former English Community coach Patrick pleno1 Leonard is running deep in Event #42, the $1,500 buy-in Extended Play No Limit Hold'em, and closing in on a first career WSOP final table.
He will resume in 9th place of the remaining 26 players heading into the fourth and (likely) final day of the tournament, with an exciting $478,000 sitting up top.
Patrick has also cashed in Event #12 this year, another $1,500 buy-in Hold'em event, coming in 38th place for $7,355.
Fellow Brit and bracelet winner Barny Boatman currently leads the charge in Event #42, as one of only three players to have reached the million chip mark.
Here's a look at the top 9:
| Position | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barny Boatman | 1,152,000 |
| 2 | Luis Duarte | 1,079,000 |
| 3 | Artem Metalidi | 1,056,000 |
| 4 | Yehoram Houri | 895,000 |
| 5 | Anthony Diotte | 817,000 |
| 6 | Ross Gottlieb | 780,000 |
| 7 | Enrico Rudelitz | 732,000 |
| 8 | Auddie Reynolds | 605,000 |
| 9 | Patrick Leonard | 581,000 |
Good luck Patrick from everyone here at PokerStrategy.com on your quest for WSOP gold!
