Michael Kamran Leads the Day 1b WPT Gardens Poker Festival Pack

The Season XVIII WPT Gardens Poker Festival is up to 293 entries with two levels of registration remaining. That total is thanks, in part, to the 171 runners who joined the $5,000 buy-in event today at the Gardens Casino. Michael Kamran (pictured) bagged the chip lead of 207,000, and sits in third place overall heading into Monday’s Day 2.

A cash game player with an occasional dalliance with tournaments, Kamran is an L.A. local and made the Season VIII WPT L.A. Poker Classic final table. That final table earned Kamran $246,000 of his $418,000 in lifetime WPT earnings.

That experience provides Kamran a long-form lens on what his chip stack means relative to the grand scale of the tournament.

“It’s nice being chip leader ion Day 1, but it doesn’t really start mattering until Day 4 or 5,” Kamran remarked.

“I got in late a little bit and was short in the beginning and then just ran it up. I had one big hand and that’s how I got to 200,000. I had Jack-10 and the flop came Ace-King-Queen. I’m just going to keep being aggressive tomorrow and pick good spots.”

The nearest WPT Champions Club member to the top of the leaderboard is Season XVII WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open winner Viny Lima (142,300). The club sent a few members forth toward Day 2 but no other major stacks emerged. Sitting in the middle of the pack are James Calderaro (124,600), Frank Stepuchin (88,400), and Season XVII Hublot WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz (79,000).

ClubWPT qualifier Paul Seres (77,800) took the next step toward a WPT final table. The defense attorney spoke with WPT’s Sean Chaffin about his life away from the felt and his journey toward qualifying for the event.

Another notable who has chips for Day 2 is TV Azteca WPT commentator Angel Guillen (42,000).

Registration is open until the start of Level 11 (2:15 pm) for Day 2 and the total prize pool will be known soon after then. The schedule for play includes 8 60-minute levels with the Action Clock ready to be used a single table away from the money.

Stay tuned to WPT.com for all coverage of the WPT Gardens Poker Festival.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

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