This afternoon at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California, the final table of the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker got underway. Six players remain, with the young Amit Makhija leading the way, holding almost 30% of the chips in play. He has held the chip lead since Wednesday, proving to give the other players a run for their money. Makhija was quoted saying, “This feels like any tournament. I don’t think it’s set in yet and I haven’t played that many World Poker Tour events. It feels good to run well right off the bat.”
Makhija is a young player, better known for his online playing, but is moving into the brick and mortar arena. Some of his recent accolades include a fifth place finish in the 2008 WSOP Event 1, two other WSOP cash finishes, and a 20th place finish for the EPT Grand Final.
Other players entering the battle for the championship include John Phan, Zachary Clark, Kyle Wilson, Paul Smith, and Trong Nguyen. Phan starts in a sizeable second place position, with two recent 2008 WSOP braclets under his belt. Clark is another experienced online player, taking down the Main Event of the Fifth Full Tilt Online Poker Series, and is sure to pose some exciting opposition to Makhija’s pursuit for first place. Wilson, Smith, and Nguyen wrap up the bottom, Wilson being the most experienced out of the three. He has four WSOP and one WPT cash finishes. Perhaps Smith and Nguyen can put their skill above the experience of their competitors and come out on top.
First place grants a $25,000 seat to the Season 7 WPT Championship and $1,116,428.
Last year, 485 players entered for a chance at the WPT final table for their share of the $4,642,500 prize pool. Dan Harrington dueled it out against David “The Dragon” Pham for the first place prize of $1,634,685.