Phil Collins Begins His Genesis at 2010 WPT Legends of Poker

Day 2 at the 2010 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event was tough for a great number of players. Sunday’s action at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles sent many famous pros home early, but luckily for poker player Phil Collins, a big run that was “against all odds” left him as the chip leader entering the event’s final day.

With 462 players kicking off the tournament on Saturday and over half of them returning for Day 2, organizers extended Sunday’s action to seven 90-minute levels, meaning that something was “in the air tonight” as Collins and the other players faced a long session. Overcoming a bout with food poisoning on Saturday night, Collins ignored the long hours and rocked the tournament with an impressive Sunday performance.

While pros like Frank Kassela, Barry Greenstein, Maria Ho, Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier and Shawn Buchanan all hit the rail on Day 2, Collins entered extremely short-stacked with only 13,000. By the time 2:00am rolled around and the chips were bagged, Collins held the lead with 898,000 chips; his turnaround gave him one more night in the tourney and a substantial lead of more than 300,000 over second place Andrew Frankenberger.

Monday’s action will decide the champion of this popular $5,000 buy-in event. The 60 remaining players will vie for the 45 spots in the money, with all cashes being worth at least $10,200. Collins knows that he “can’t hurry love” in his quest for the tournament title, but he is hoping for more strong hands that give him “another day in paradise” and land him first place at the Legends of Poker and the top prize of $750,000.