Monster WPT Tournament of Champions Day 1: 64 Former Winners Hit the Battlefield

The Monster World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions kicked off on Friday, April 22, with 64 members of the WPT Champions Club hitting the green-felt battlefield. Following the first 10 levels of action that concluded Day 1, WPT Amsterdam winner Farid Yachou led the surviving pack with 216,700 in chips.

For Yachou, this trip is his first to America, and he’s positioned himself to make it quite a profitable one. When he won WPT Amsterdam just less than a year ago, Yachou defeated a field of 341 entries to earn €215,000.

To help Yachou claim the chip lead moving to Day 2, he busted Marvin Rettenmaier late on Day 1. In the final level, Rettenmaier opened preflop from the button, Yachou shoved all in from the big blind, and Rettenmaier called to put himself at risk with the . Yachou had him crushed with the , and the board did Rettenmaier no good.

Trailing Yachou on the leaderboard podium were Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi with 210,100 and Justin Young with 196,600.

Mizrachi’s WPT fame is long and storied. He has two WPT titles — the $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic in 2005 for $1.86 million and the $10,000 Borgata Winter Poker Open in 2006 for $1.173 million — three other WPT final tables, and six total top 10 finishes. …

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