The three starting flights of the inaugural Moneymaker Tour Main Event have come and gone at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. Tour Executive Manager Tony Burns and the team set a $500,000 guarantee for this $2,500 marquee event. Yesterday, in the middle of Day 1c, that number was broken.
A total of 249 entrants have taken their shot at this first-ever Main Event for the new and exciting tour. With registration still open until the start of Day 2 at noon today, we'll see if that number will grow more before official prize pool numbers are released.
At the top of the leaderboard is the accomplished James Carroll with 458,500. With over $5 million in live cashes per Hendon Mob and multiple titles on other tours, Carroll looks to be the first to win a Moneymaker Tour Main Event. Plenty of big names stand in his way, though.
Fellow America's Card Room Team Pros Jon Pardy and Ryan DePaulo showed up early on Day 2 to join in on the fun. "Don't worry about that guarantee, the boys are here," said Pardy. "When I saw you all walk in I knew we were safe," joked Moneymaker. All three of the ACR Team Pros bagged chipped heading into Day 2; Moneymaker has 238,000, Pardy has 228,500, and DePaulo has 159,000.
Some other big names in the field include Jake Schwartz (343,000), Stephen Song (323,500), Nick Palma (199,000), Matt Glantz (194,500), Neil Blumenfield (192,000), Jessica Cai (190,000), Brian Hastings (176,000), Michael Jagroo (171,500), and Jerry Wong (170,000).
Far from forgotten is the centenarian and player that has captured our hearts here in West Palm Beach, Gene Calden. At 100 years old, Calden played on the feature table all day on Day 1a. He bagged the biggest at that table, putting 195,000 in play on Day 2. Calden played a satellite and fell just short of scoring a ticket to the Main Event but earning $1,500 of the $2,500 he needed. Well, Faded Spade and The Moneymaker Tour each ponied up $500 to get Calden into the field. Calden took advantage and has a healthy stack ready to go today.
Day 2 starts today at 12 pm local time. They plan to play ten full levels today. They return to blinds of 1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 big blind ante.
Congratulations to Chris Moneymaker, Tony Burns, and the whole team on reaching their Main Event guarantee, and best of luck to the players still in the mix in this inaugural stop for the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion.
Feature photo credit - Moneymaker Tour/Omar Sader
