World Poker Tour Alpha8 St. Kitts Day 1: Haxton Leads as 16 of 28 Advance
The World Poker Tour Aplha8 St. Kitts $100,000 High Roller kicked off on Saturday as 23 players flocked to the beautiful Caribbean island for 11 levels of play. During that time five players busted and re-entered the event, which brought the total number of entries up to 28 and created a prize pool of $2,716,000, of which $1,086,400 will go to the eventual winner.
The man best position to capture the top prize is Isaac Haxton of PokerStars’ Team Online, who leads the advancing 16 players with a stack of 462,000.
End-of-Day-1 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Haxton | 462,000 |
| 2 | Mike McDonald | 345,000 |
| 3 | Scott Seiver | 250,500 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | 230,500 |
| 5 | Timothy Adams | 225,000 |
| 6 | Jeff Gross | 159,500 |
| 7 | Antonio Esfandiari | 148,500 |
| 8 | Fabian Quoss | 147,500 |
| 9 | Max Altergott | 143,350 |
| 10 | Steven Silverman | 113,500 |
| 11 | Tom McDonald | 109,500 |
| 12 | Sorel Mizzi | 90,500 |
| 13 | Paul Newey | 76,000 |
| 14 | Philipp Gruissem | 75,500 |
| 15 | Tobias Reinkemeier | 74,500 |
| 16 | Michael Singh | 74,000 |
According to, Jeff Gross, who is one of five players to have attended all three WPT Alpha8 events, jumped out to an early chip. It happened in Level 3 (300/600/100) with 31,000 already in the pot and a board reading A♣J♥9♣Q♥K♥. Gross bet 25,000 from the button and Timothy Adams check-raised all in from the cutoff for 71,100. Gross hit the tank but eventually called with the 10♥8♥ for a flush, which bested Adams’ A♥K♣.
Adams accounted for one of the five re-entries, while Ray Tabby, Fabian Quoss, Steven Silverman, and Bill Perkins accounted for the others. One man who opted not to re-enter was Tony Guglietti, who was eliminated by Haxton in Level 4 (400/800/100).
It happened when Haxton opened for 7,000 only to have Guglietti three-bet to 15,000 from the small blind. After the big folded, Haxton four-bet to 32,000 and then called when Guglietti moved all in.
Guglietti: A♠K♥
Haxton: A♥A♣
It was a bad spot for Guglietti, and according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, he has just a 5.86% chance of winning the hand. That dropped to a mere 1.52% when the A♦10♣9♣ flop delivered Haxton a set, which meant Guglietti needed to catch a running jack and queen to win the hand. The K♦ turn took away any chance of that happening, and Guglietti was sent to the rail after the 3♥ was run out on the river.
In Level 8 (1,000/2,000/300), Perkins, the man responsible for organizing the event on his “home away from home,” fell for a second time. It happened when he got his stack all in preflop holding the A♣K♣ and was racing against the Q♦Q♣ of Paul Newey. It was a coin flip, but not after the Q♥7♣3♦ flop gave Newey a set. Neither the K♦ turn nor 4♠ river helped Perkins, and his schedule was cleared to enjoy the beach.
Others who failed to make Day 2 were Jonathan Duhamel, Ray Tabby, Igor Kurganov, Erik Seidel and Greg Whalley.
The final 16 players will return on Sunday to play down to a winner. PokerNews will bring you a recap upon completion of the WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts, so be sure to check back for that.
*Photos courtesy of .
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