World Poker Tour Recap - Episode #101

Last week, Carlos Mortensen made history as he became the first player to win both a WSOP Main Event and WPT Championship. Oh, and he also picked up a cool 4 million in cash for his efforts.

That was the show’s 100th episode, and they were right back at it the very next day, filming their 101st episode of the World Poker Tour. And talk about a lineup! The show featured three former WPT winners (Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, and Antonio Esfandiari) and three former WSOP champions (Tom McEvoy, Johnny Chan, and Dan Harrington).

The theme of the show was “Poker by the Book,” as each of these champs is also a successful poker author. The winner was to receive a $25,500 entry into next season‘s WPT World Championship.

Each player started with $250,000 in chips. On hand #27, Daniel Negreanu got into trouble when his A-J failed to get it done against McEvoy’s A-10. McEvoy doubled up and Daniel fell to just $30,000 in chips. But “Kid Poker” made a mini-comeback in hand #32, when his full house beat McEvoy’s pocket jacks.

On the following hand, Greenstein got into trouble against Chan and his top pair. But a spade on the river gave Barry a flush and doubled him into the chip lead, sending Chan into the short stack position. At this point, the blinds increased, and the players became more serious.

THE FIELD BEGINS TO NARROW

On three consecutive hands, a player was eliminated from the game. Johnny Chan finished in 6th place when his A-8 fell to Greenstein’s A-J. Negreanu finished in 5th when his A-Q failed to improve and McEvoy got himself a full house. In hand #42, Esfandiari went all in preflop with pocket aces but fell to Greenstein’s club flush.

By this point, Greenstein had a sizeable lead over McEvoy and Harrington, and over the next 23 grueling hands, Harrington found himself the short stack. In hand #66, he went all in with K-3 and walked right into Greenstein’s K-Q. The board ended up J-6-4-9-K, and Dan Harrington finished in 3rd place.

On hand #104, both players checked after the flop came up 7-5-3. The turn card was a 3 of hearts and McEvoy moved all in. Greenstein called, but McEvoy was bluffing with K-J. Greenstein, meanwhile, had a 7 and 5 of hearts for two pair. McEvoy was out, and Barry Greenstein had won his 4th WPT episode.

After the win, Greenstein hinted that a side bet made with Chan and Negreanu was worth more than the $25,500 official prize. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, especially considering that Barry donates all his winnings to charity.

If you would like to read more about WPT events, click on these links:

WPT Championship Recap

J.C. Tran wins the WPT World Poker Challenge

World Poker Tour Recap - Episode #101