Reza Payvar Soars into WPT Championship Lead

Thursday was most definitely moving day at the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, as nearly three-quarters of the 164 players who began play on April 21 bowed out, leaving 45 rounders to compete on Day 5. Several of the chip leaders at the end of the day made massive leaps in the standings, including the new top dog, Reza Payvar, who made an astounding move all the way from 150th position, increasing his chip stack from 41,300 to 1,638,000.

Nipping at Payvar’s heels is amateur John Smith with 1,611,000 chips, after rising from 37th to 2nd position. Also in the million-chip club are Tuan Le in 3rd, Michael Mizrachi in 4th, and Phil Ivey, who jumped from 99th to 5th. Le and Ivey helped themselves reach the top of the pack by playing very aggressively when the tournament reached the bubble stages, as they stole chips on several occasions from shorter-stacked players trying to make the money.

As the top 100 places paid, the majority of the field going into the day was going to make the money, but this did not mean the larger stacks could always feel too comfortable. Evidence of this fact was Scotty Nguyen, chip leader after Day 2 and 9th place after Day 3, who fell all the way out of the money, bubbling-out in 102nd place. Play slowed considerably as the field narrowed to 100, but soon after the remaining players were assured of a profit, the gambling ensued and 55 more players went home.

Yuan Le could also be considered by many as the “hero of the day”, as he not only knocked out Phil Hellmuth and brought on another patented Hellmuth rant, but he frustrated Hellmuth constantly during the day, frequently going over the top of him and giving the crowd a healthy dose of entertainment.

Some of the other notable exits on Day 4 were Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Kathy Liebert, and Erick Lindgren.