Seidel Grabs Early Lead at WSOP Tournament of Champions

Erik Seidel took an early lead after the first day of play at the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. Seidel amassed over 72,000 chips to put himself narrowly ahead of Johnny Chan and Mike Matusow.

Meanwhile, five players were eliminated, cutting the original field of 27 down to 22. The five eliminations were Sammy Farha, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Greg Raymer and Barry Shulman. Several players are sitting on short stacks heading into the second day of play, including Doyle Bunson and last year’s Main Event winner, Joe Cada.

This year’s Tournament of Champions is the first since 2006, and features a format reminiscent of an all-star game, as 20 of the participating players were chosen by online voting. The tournament is a freeroll for the 27 hand-picked competitors, and the prize structure is fairly lucrative: $1 million will be split among the nine players who cash. First place is worth $500,000, while second pays $250,000 and the third place finisher walks home with $100,000. Every other final table participant will be awarded $25,000 for their efforts.

The players will be competing on and off during the week, with the final table being played on July 4^th. Players began the tournament with 30,000 chips, and will be playing no-limit hold’em throughout. Play continued today at noon; the players will contest another four levels before breaking.

While the Tournament of Champions has not been played in several years, it had previously been contested three consecutive years from 2004 through 2006. The first even event saw Annie Duke top a 10-player field, taking home the $2,000,000 winner-take-all prize after a heads-up battle with Phil Hellmuth. In 2005 and 2006, the prizes were distributed throughout the final table, with the field being drawn from a combination of World Series of Poker circuit event winners and top finishers, WSOP Main Event final table finishers, and sponsor’s exemptions. The 2005 event was won by Mike Matusow, while Mike Sexton took down the 2006 Tournament of Champions.