Reigning WPT World Champ Dan Sepiol Bags Big on Day 1 of WPT Voyage Main
Reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) world champion Dan Sepiol is well on his way to becoming the inaugural WPT Voyage Main Event champion, and that's no April Fool's joke. The first day of the $5,000 buy-in WPT Voyage Championship kicked off on Monday, April 1 and saw Sepiol bagging third in chips to closely trail chip leader Landen Lucas and fellow WPT champion Matthew Wantman, who bagged second in chips.
There were plenty of other familiar faces among the 37 players who bagged Day 1 of the WPT Voyage Main Event, which drew 293 runners for a prize pool of $1,347,800. Among those who bagged are WPT champions Tony Dunst, Matthew Wantman, Ryan Riess, Masato Yokosawa, Tyler Patterson and Eliot Hudon, WPT Global Ambassador Andrew Neeme and notables Greg Himmelbrand, Jerry Wong and Kasey Mills.
WPT Voyage Main Event Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landen Lucas | 1,139,000 | 95 | |
| 2 | Matthew Wantman | 845,000 | 70 | |
| 3 | Dan Sepiol | 784,000 | 65 | |
| 4 | Carlos Miguel Basurto Romero | 645,000 | 54 | |
| 5 | Bart Dowling | 631,000 | 53 | |
| 6 | Dong Min | 630,000 | 53 | |
| 7 | Adam Weinraub | 563,000 | 47 | |
| 8 | Aram Oganyan | 544,000 | 45 | |
| 9 | Tyler Patterson | 504,000 | 42 | |
| 10 | Jeff Farnes | 503,000 | 42 |
William Tweed Falls to Three-Nine Offsuit on the Bubble
There was high energy inside the Red Room on board the Valient Lady as the ship filled with poker players sailed through the Atlantic Ocean.
The field of a few hundred players dwindled slowly throughout the day, with Xuan Liu, Olga Iermolcheva, Aaron Massey, Steven "Cuz" Buckner, Stephen Song and Martin Zamani among those to bust.
Action slowed toward the bubble with a half dozen tables remaining and slowed further at the stone bubble with 38 players remaining. During the second hand of hand-for-hand play, William Tweed moved all in for less than three big blinds with Big Slick only for Toby Boas to hunt him down the big blind with nine-three offsuit, according to WPT updates.
A flop featuring a three was bad news for Tweed and a brick runout confirmed his elimination on the stone bubble.
There's still plenty of action to come with Day 2 slated to get underway on Tuesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. local time, giving players ample of time to enjoy a day on the shores of Grand Cayman. Day 2 will play down to a final table of players that will return for Day 3
Each returning player is guaranteed a payday of at leat $9,600 and $285,800 waits up top for the eventual champion. Head to worldpokertour.com for further updates on the Main Event action.
WPT Voyage Main Event Payouts
| PLACE | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285,800 | |
| 2 | $190,000 | |
| 3 | $130,000 | |
| 4 | $100,000 | |
| 5 | $75,000 | |
| 6 | $55,000 | |
| 7 | $42,000 | |
| 8 | $34,000 | |
| 9-10 | $28,000 | |
| 11-12 | $24,000 | |
| 13-15 | $20,000 | |
| 16-19 | $17,000 | |
| 20-23 | $14,000 | |
| 24-27 | $12,000 | |
| 28-31 | $10,600 | |
| 32-37 | $9,600 |
*Photos courtesy WPT