WPT Championship Underway, Kevin Boudreau Update

Borgata Hosts WPT Championship

For the first time in its many seasons, the WPT World Championship is taking place at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Main Event offered a $15,400 buy-in, two starting days, and reentries allowed.

Action started on April 21 with 105 entries, though only 62 players made it through the night. Paul Volpe sat atop the leaderboard with 215,300 chips, with Jerry Wong nearby holding 198K chips.

The second starting day brought in 223 entries, with 138 of the players still bagging chips at the end of the night. Jason Koon took the overall chip lead with 252,800 in his stack, with Athanasios Polychronopoulos also with a strong stack of 223,100 chips.

With the field set at 328 players, the prize pool will be made official on Day 2.

Kevin “Phwap” Boudreau Makes Health Progress

Since Kevin Boudreau collapsed at the 2013 World Series of Poker and spent months recovering from the traumatic brain injury, the poker community has taken an interest in the player known as “Phwap” of the Ship It Holla Ballas.

His father, Jim, talked to PokerNews to provide an update on Kevin’s health, noting that his recovery is progressing in Colorado with his family at his side.

Progress for Kevin includes moving parts of his body and making walking movements, vocalizing a few words, and eating on his own. The feeding tube only remains to provide hydration. Kevin is alert, reading, remembering, watching sports, and playing some online poker. He has been progressing in therapy, gaining weight, and is “generally very happy.”

He expects to visit the WSOP this summer.