Scotty Nguyen Leads WPT Championship

With 233,750 tournament chips, Scotty Nguyen sits on top of the field at the WPT World Championship Season III, being held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. 344 players remain from the original 452, as half the players competed Monday and then rested while the remaining half sat at the tables Tuesday. All players will play at the same time for the rest of the tournament.

The going has been a bit slow to start, as the big blind started at only 50 chips, even though the starting chip count for each player was a whopping 50,000 tournament chips.

The controversy of the day actually resulted in play being halted a short time. The river card of a hand between 2004 WSOP Pot Limit Omaha Champion Ted Lawson and Alan Schein produced a straight on the board. After Lawson showed his pocket Queens and appeared ready to split the pot, Schein stated, “I play the board,” and tossed his cards toward the muck, face down. When one of his cards actually touched the muck, several players at the table requested that his hand be declared dead and Lawson be given the pot. The floorman decided the two men should split the pot, a proclamation that only served as gasoline to a building fire. Soon, the loud arguing at the table drew a crowd and Tournament Director Jack McClelland was called over for final decision. He ruled that since Schein did declare that he was playing the board before he mucked, the pot should be split.

Other notable names near the top of the leader board include Sam Farha in 8th position, 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer in 9th, Eric Lindgren in 10th, and WPT Season I Champion Alan Goehring in 11th.

Amongst the big names that have already been shown the door are Marcel Luske, Amir Vahedi, and Scott Fischman.