Eslami Takes Down Opposition

The heat is on in Lawrenceberg, Indiana at the 2nd annual Hollywood Poker Open, as Eslami takes out the opposition.

The action is heating up in Lawrenceberg, Indiana at the World Poker Tour’s 2nd annual Hollywood Poker Open. Although only 92 players signed up for the first day of play the registration remains open until the start of play on day 2 so the ranks are expected to swell. This is in stark contrast to last year’s 144 players. There are a couple of big names due to sign up on day 2, including the front runner for World Poker Tour Player of the Year, Andy Frankenberger. Last year’s winner Carlos Mortenson isn’t attending as he is playing the NAPT Mohegan Sun event which is running at the same time.

There may not be that many competitors but there sure are some big names playing for the big prizes on offer. The big name players include the likes of; Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Vivek Rajkumar, Randal Flowers, Hoyt Corkins, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Ali Eslami. It’s Ali Eslami who is creating a lot of hype at the moment on the circuit as he seems to be simply unstoppable and ended the first day’s play leading the field with a massive 147,000 chips from the 30,000 that he started off with.

Eslami has already won the WSOP-C Regional Championship as well as taking second place at the The Big Event Bounty Shootout a couple of weeks before that. This has all made Eslami hot property, at the moment he is the one to watch. He is not the only one doing well at the Hollywood Poker Open however, Richard Pflum is hot on his heels with 141,000 chips and Tom Marchese is only a little behind him, ensuring that it is tight at the top.

The chip leaders going into the 2nd day of play at the prestigious tournament are as follows; Ali Eslami – 147,000, Richard Pflum – 141,000, Tom Marchese – 92,275, Steve Russell – 92,050, Matt Sterling – 90,000, Allen Kessler – 85,400, Steve Barshak – 82,825, Hoyt Corkins – 82,225, James Sieg – 81,325, David Anthony – 81,075. With a whole host more players scheduled to join in the tournament for the second day of play the action is set to get bigger and bigger as the tournament goes on. The big question on everyone’s mind in Lawrenceberg, Indiana, is can Ali Eslami hold on to his chip lead for yet another dramatic win?