WPT LEGENDS: HALE TO THE CHIEF - MONSTER CHIP STACK TOO MUCH FOR OPPONENTS

PHOTO: WPT.com

A few weeks after wins by big name pros Marvin Rettenmaier and Tony Gregg, relative unknown Josh Hale (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-91st) is the latest winner on the World Poker Tour.

Hale defeated 621 other competitors to win the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event at the famous Bicycle Casino, outside of Los Angeles.

Hale collects 500K USD for his efforts, eclipsing his previous tournament-best 35K USD score at the 1M Guarantee event at the Legends last season.


Second place finisher Max Steinberg (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 9th) certainly made a game of it. The bracelet winner started final table play as one of the short stacks but built his chips up so much so that he started heads-up play as the leader.

The turning point came during hand #132 where Hale hit a river flush as both players had put all of their chips in the middle on the flop. Hale had his monster stack back and wouldn't surrender from that point.

It's not all bad news for Steinberg, first, he collects over 290K for a few days work - he also pushes Phil Ivey out of the Top 10 for Player of the Year, Steinberg sits ninth with only four months left to the season.


Three of the final table favourites were out of the event much earlier than most poker fans watching the live stream would have wanted as Jeff Madsen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 289th), Greg Mueller (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 39th) and Ali Eslami (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 167th) were the first three players eliminated on Wednesday.

Mueller enters the QJ Player of the Year Top 100 with his performance, in fact, Mueller cracks the Top 40 with his 36-point score.

The WPT makes their way to France next as the Grand Prix de Paris is fast approaching!

---

FT PAYOUTS (USD) Josh Hale $500,000 Max Steinberg $293,490 Raouf Malek $192,400 Ali Eslami $133,700 Greg Mueller $97,100 Jeff Madsen $75,400 RELATED POSTS > HALE LEADS WPT LEGENDS FT > WPT LEGENDS PLAYS DOWN TO FT > THE THRILL OF VICTORY DEFENDING CHAMPION 2011 PTPR Player of the Year: Will Failla 2012 PTPR Points: 71 NEXT WPT EVENT WPT Grand Prix de Paris Aviation Club de France September 10-15, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WORLD POKER TOUR WPT Legends of Poker NLH Main Event August 24-29, 2012 Bicycle Casino | California Buy-in: $3,700 | Prizepool: $2,111,690 Entries: 622 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JOSH HALE 131 MAX STEINBERG 81 RAOUF MALEK 51 ALI ESLAMI 41 GREG MUELLER 36 JEFF MADSEN 31 JIM WILLERSON 31 STEPHEN GRANER 16 JESSE MARTIN 16 ART ALANIZ 16 DAVID MARSHALL 16 CYRUS FARZAD 14 ALAN MYERSON 14 RAMZI SROUR 14 SAM BARNHART 14 ANTONIOS ROUNGERIS 11 EFREN ABUSTAN 11 JOSEPH CHEONG 11

WPT LEGENDS: JOSH HALE LEADS AS WPT HOSTS STACKED FINAL TABLE

PHOTO: WPT.com

One thing is for sure - tonight's WPT Legends of Poker Final Table will not - ok, should not - dissapoint as some of poker's big hitters hope that this is their time to pickup a first WPT title at the Bicycle Casino near Los Angeles.

Josh Hale (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: NR) refused to succumb to the veterans last night as we drew closer and closer to a final table. Hale - who will receive Player of the Year point for the first time of his career tonight - was the chip leader late last night and continued to pickup chips all the way through to the final whistle.

Hale will start the day with a +2:1 chip advantage over his second place opponent.

That man starting the day in second is no other than two-time WSOP bracelet winner Greg "FBT" Mueller (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-113th). Mueller had a good start to the WPT LAPC - the last time the WPT was in the Los Angeles area - but fizzled quickly and was unable to make the kind of noise he hopes to make tonight.

Mueller, who concentrates mostly on cash games when he's not spending his summers at the WSOP, is an accomplished tournament player nonetheless and could very well be the odds-on favourite to get things done later tonight.

Former WSOP Circuit Rincon Regional winner Ali Eslami (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 364th), two-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: 608th) and Max Steinberg (2012 QJ/PTPR Rank: T-53rd) (who owns a WSOP bracelet of his own) are three of the other major threats and are three other reasons that things should be very interesting once we shuffle up and deal.

A win for Steinberg would also catapult him into the QuadJacks Poker Player of the Year Top 5.

FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS/CHIP COUNTS:
Seat 1 Max Steinberg 1,020,000
Seat 2 Jeff Madsen 1,030,000
Seat 3 Raouf Malek 3,130,000
Seat 4 Greg Mueller 3,490,000
Seat 5 Josh Hale 7,325,000
Seat 6 Ali Eslami 2,900,000

Blinds start at 30K/60K with a 10K ante.

We are moments away from final table play. WPT.com will provide "live" coverage (on a 30-minute delay) starting at 4:30pm PT.

So forget Big Brother, forget the NL and AL pennant races for a night and forget about the Theo Walcott rumours coming out of London and settle in and enjoy the action as Tony Dunst brings up live coverage from beautiful Bell Gardens.

---

FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st $500,000 2nd $293,490 3rd $192,400 4th $133,700 5th $97,100 6th $75,400 RELATED POSTS > WPT LEGENDS PLAYS DOWN TO FT > THE THRILL OF VICTORY DEFENDING CHAMPION 2011 PTPR Player of the Year: Will Failla 2012 PTPR Points: 71 NEXT WPT EVENT WPT Grand Prix de Paris Aviation Club de France September 10-15, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WORLD POKER TOUR WPT Legends of Poker NLH Main Event August 24-29, 2012 Bicycle Casino | California Buy-in: $3,700 | Prizepool: $2,111,690 Entries: 622 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6th place 31 JIM WILLERSON 31 STEPHEN GRANER 16 JESSE MARTIN 16 ART ALANIZ 16 DAVID MARSHALL 16 CYRUS FARZAD 14 ALAN MYERSON 14 RAMZI SROUR 14 SAM BARNHART 14 ANTONIOS ROUNGERIS 11 EFREN ABUSTAN 11 JOSEPH CHEONG 11

WPT LEGENDS: FINAL 10 PLAYING DOWN TO A FINAL TABLE

PHOTO: WPT.com

While there isn't much in terms of experienced players, or at least players with major scores on the circuit, at the top of the WPT Legends of Poker Final 10 Leaderboard, the players currently under the average chip count totals total 5 WSOP bracelets and hope to turn things around as we play down to the WPT Final Table of six players tonight at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California, minutes from Los Angeles.

Josh Hale is the current chip leader (as Level 25 wraps-up) with Jim Willerson and Raouf Malek following Hall in second and third place.

Next in line are two double WSOP bracelet winners (each did it in the same year): Jeff Madsen and Greg Mueller.

Both players usually play well in California tournaments ... Mueller actually held the overnight chip lead early at the WPT LAPC back in February.

Another bracelet winner, Max Steinberg is still in contention, as are former WSOP Circuit Rincon Regional Champion Ali Eslami and Jesse Martin.

622 players entered the event which started over the weekend creating a 2.1M+ prizepool with a cool 500K USD going to the winner!

UNOFFICIAL CHIP COUNTS (as of 6:30PM PT)
Josh Hale 4,835,000
Jim Willerson 3,390,000
Raouf Malek 3,370,000
Jeff Madsen 1,480,000
Greg Mueller 1,160,000
Max Steinberg 1,130,000
Art Alaniz 1,085,000
Ali Eslami 1,000,000
Jesse Martin 655,000
Stephen Graner 580,000

---

TOP 10 PAYOUTS (USD) 1st $500,000 2nd $293,490 3rd $192,400 4th $133,700 5th $97,100 6th $75,400 7th $60,400 8th $49,800 9th $40,400 10th $32,000 RELATED POSTS > THE THRILL OF VICTORY DEFENDING CHAMPION 2011 PTPR Player of the Year: Will Failla 2012 PTPR Points: 71 NEXT WPT EVENT WPT Grand Prix de Paris Aviation Club de France September 10-15, 2012

PTPR PREMIER EVENT WORLD POKER TOUR WPT Legends of Poker NLH Main Event August 24-29, 2012 Bicycle Casino | California Buy-in: $3,700 | Prizepool: $2,111,690 Entries: 622 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 131 2nd place 81 3rd place 51 4th place 41 5th place 36 6-7th place 31 8th place 16 9-10th place 16 DAVID MARSHALL 16 CYRUS FARZAD 14 ALAN MYERSON 14 RAMZI SROUR 14 SAM BARNHART 14 ANTONIOS ROUNGERIS 11 EFREN ABUSTAN 11 JOSEPH CHEONG 11