BICYCLE CASINO BRINGS OUT THE STARS
The Bicycle Casino is one of the most famous stops on the World Series of Poker Circuit. The legendary cardroom near Los Angeles regularly houses some of the poker world’s biggest names and biggest games. Over the past few days, many of those names were in the Bike’s events center for this WSOP Circuit stop’s Main Event.

The star-studded field included five-time WSOP bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, three-time bracelet winner Barry Greenstein, Kathy Liebert, David “ODB” Baker, Will Failla, Dan Heimiller, Mike Leah, Melanie Weisner, and Alexandru Masek.
 
Monday was the third and final starting day in this $1,675 tournament. It saw 285 players take to the felt. After 15 levels of play, only 52 remained. Over the course of three starting flights, this event attracted 746 entries, 140 of whom still have chips and will return Tuesday at noon to play Day 2 in a combined field.

The chip leader heading into Day 2 is Allen Hodjat, who finished his Day 1 flight with 310,500 in chips. Day 1A belonged to Thomas Greiner, who surged into the lead with 260,000. Kody Muir led for much of Day 1B, bagging up 266,000 at the end of the night. Darrell Lane was hot on his heels with 262,500. On Day 1C, though, no one could keep up with Allen Hodjat (pictured). Hodjat joined the ranks of the chip leaders just before the dinner break, and remained near the top of the leaderboard for the rest of the day. As play was drawing to a close, he was seated next to Jerome Chan, a fellow big stack. As the players battled, Hodjat was able to increase his lead, and he’ll be the clear leader at the beginning of Day 2.

This event featured a guaranteed $1 million prize pool. The 746 entries easily surpassed that amount. And in fact, the prize pool may still grow even larger, as players have the option of late registering up until the beginning of play on Tuesday.

Several WSOP bracelet winners are among those returning for Day 2. They include Heimiller (172,500 in chips) and Arkadiy Tsinis (63,000). They’ll be joined by Alexandru Masek (53,0000), who has seven career WSOP Circuit rings, tied for first place on the all time list. Shahin Edalatju (199,500), who won the Main Event at the Harrah’s Rincon Circuit stop in December, advances to Day 2 as well, along with Circuit ring winners Charles “Woody” Moore (189,000), Ben Keeline (169,000), Ralph Massey (103,000), Nancy Birnbaum (95,000), and Everett Carlton (88,000).

A number of notable faces played in this event, but failed to make it to Day 2. They include bracelet winners Cunningham, Greenstein, Baker and Liebert. Liebert played on both Day 1B and Day 1C, and was eliminated before the end of the first level in both flights. Baptiste Chavaillaz, who won this event last year, joins them on the rail, along with Melanie Weisner,

Mike Leah was also among the participants who did not advance. Leah won two preliminary events in a single day here at the Bicycle Casino. Those victories gave him his first two WSOP Circuit rings and secured him the title of Casino Champion and a seat in the 2104 WSOP National Championship in Atlantic City.

When Day 2 kicks off on at noon on Tuesday, we’ll see if Hodjat can continue his hot streak, or one of the other talented players still in the field will knock him off the top of the leaderboard.

Here are the top ten players on the leaderboard heading into Day 2. A full list of chip counts is available on the reports page.

1. Allen Hodjat – 310,500
2. Kody Mui – 266,000
3. Darrell Lane – 262,500
4. Thomas Greiner – 260,000
5. Joseph McCarthy – 255,000
6. Chris Tolene – 239,000
7. Michael Skomac – 235,500
7. Ryan Buckholtz – 235,500
9. Zewdie “Woody” Wondim – 233,500
10. Levon Torosyan - 228,500