Welcome to Day 1B of the $1.5 Million Guarantee WPT Maryland at Live! Casino

By Tim Duckworth

Season XVIII of the World Poker Tour continues onto Hanover, Maryland, for Day 1B of the WPT Maryland #3,500 Main Event that is taking center stage at the Live! Casino & Hotel. WPT Maryland features two starting flights, and a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool in the fifth installment of this event.

In Season XIV, the inaugural WPT Maryland attracted a field of 337 entries which was topped by Aaron Mermelstein who collected the $250,222 first prize, and his second WPT title. In Season XV, Zachary Smiley would break through for his first WPT title when he defeated a 554-entrant field to collect the $356,536 first prize. In Season XVI, Art Papazyan would win his second WPT title after topping the 561-entrant field to capture the $389,405 first-place prize on his way to collected WPT Player of the Year honors.

Last season, Tony Ruberto (pictured below) would break through for his second WPT title when he proved victorious over the 554-entrant field to capture the $344,755 first-place prize after defeating Shankar Pillai heads-up on a final table that also included Jeremy Ausmus and Will Givens. With three players collecting their second WPT title in the first four installments of this event, WPT Maryland can definitely be considered as a must-play for anyone already in the WPT Champions Club.

Hublot WPT Player of the Year Standings for Season XVIII

Season XVIII on the World Poker Tour have seen three champions crowned. Currently WPT Legends of Poker and WPT Borgata Poker Open champions Aaron Van Blarcum and Donald Maloney respectively are tied on 1,200 points. Sitting behind them is WPT Gardens Poker Festival champion Roger Teska, and runner-ups to Van Blarcum and Maloney respectively in Gueorgui Gantchev and Uke Dauti. Whoever captures the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino title will at a minimum be in a four-way tie for second place.

With Season XVIII now well underway on the WPT Main Tour, great prizes are on offer for whoever can follow in the footsteps of defending WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz and other WPT legends before him.

Included in the World Poker Tour’s enhancements for Season XVIII are added Hublot WPT Player of the Year prizes. Not only will the Hublot WPT Player of the Year for Season XVIII win a custom Hublot timepiece and complimentary accommodation at select WPT Main Tour stops for Season XVIII, but he or she will earn $15,000 in WPT tournament buy-in credits. Prizes have been added for second- and third-place finishers in the race, as well. The runner-up receives $7,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits and third place receives $2,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits.

WPT tournament buy-in credits can be used in any global WPT event, including WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, WPT500, and WPT Special Events.

WPT Maryland at Live! Casino Structure and Schedule
The WPT Maryland at Live! Casino features a $3,500 buy-in and players are allowed unlimited re-entries on Day 1A/1B and through the first two levels on Day 2. Registration is open until the beginning of level 11 on Day 2, Monday September 30; approximately 2:15 p.m (ET).

As is the case with all Season XVIII WPT Main Tour stops, it comes with the new World Poker Tour structure that includes the big blind ante format and 40,000 in starting chips. The first two levels will be 100-100 and 100-200 with no ante before the big blind ante kicks in for Level 3 and onward. Level 3 will be 100-200 with a 200 ante, and the big blind ante will be the same price as the big blind from there on out.

The WPT Maryland at Live! Casino schedule will see play start at 12:15 p.m. (ET) on Day 1A and 1B with eight 60-minute levels with a 15-minute break after every two levels, and no dinner break. Day 2 will play ten 60-minute levels starting at 12:15 p.m. (ET) with a 60-minute dinner break following level 14 (approximately 6:45 p.m. ET). Day 3 will adjust to 90-minute levels and play down to the final table of six is reached, and when play resumes on Day 4, levels will be 60-minutes in duration until heads-up is reached where they will be reduced to 30 minutes in length until the newest WPT Champion is crowned.

To view complete information on the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino structure and schedule, click here.

Day 1A kicked off on Saturday with a total of 217 entrants taking to the felt. Once the dust settled, just 115 players would survive into Day 2 with WPT Champions Club member Brian Altman bagging the overall chip lead with 307,800 ahead of Gansukh Sandagsuren (221,000), Carlos Requena (218,500), Ryan D’Angelo (157,800), and Joe McKeehen (153,600). Also surviving into Day 2 include WPT Champions Club members Darren Elias, Aaron Van Blarcum, Anthony Zinno, Frank Stepuchin, and Olivier Busquet, as well as WPT Player of the Year Mukul Pahuja.

With that, the stage is now set for the start of Day 1B of the WPT Maryland Main Event to begin at 12:15 p.m. (ET) from the Live! Casino & Hotel. Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the WPT Maryland Champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive

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