Team Leah Shines with Ben Yu in $25K Fantasy League

The World Series of Poker is in the final stretch as the calendar turned to July and with many players beginning Main Event preparations. Team Leah leads the $25,000 Fantasy League after pulling away from the field and holds a 147 point-cushion over the field with 781 points.

Team Leah reaped the benefits of Ben Yu and James Obst having the best Series of their careers with 284 and 218 points respectively. Yu’s Series with nine cashes outscores Team Russia by himself and only two players have scored a higher percentage of points for their team – Daniel Negreanu and John Monnette, but Yu has the best return with only costing 6% of Team Leah’s budget.

Team Martins standout player is Anthony Zinno with 153 points – a quarter of the team’s points. Zinno has five cashes on the Series, four of which were $10,000 Championship events where he finished in the top ten spots in each.

Team Martins’s Adam Owen has three significant scores of 34, 10 and 44 fantasy points with a total of 92. He took third in the $3,333 Online High Roller event, 12th in the Deuce to Seven Triple Draw Championship and 13th place in the $565 Pot Limit Omaha event.

Adam Owen boosting Team Martins. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Team Negreanu is still led by the boss with 222 points. Negreanu has nine cashes with five being $10,000 buy-in Championship events. His most recent scores were 11 points in the Seven Card Stud HiLo Championship and six points for a 12th place finish in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix.

Brandon Shack-Harris is the second-leading scorer for Team Negranu with 81 points from five cashes. His biggest contribution to the team came from 50 points from his sixth place finish in the Razz Championship.

Brandon Shack-Harris channeling his spirit animal this summer. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
While several players have had standout summers, there are several players that have bricked the Series for their teams. Erik Seidel for Team Leah, Fedor Holz and Brian Hastings for Team Fleyshman, Bryn Kenney and David Chiu for Team Gorodinsky, Adam Friedman for Team TurboRunGood, Eli Elezra and Dan Kelly for Team Russia.

Bryn Kenney started the year strong but bricked everything in Vegas so far. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)

Kenney is the biggest bust of the Series so far with a $40 price tag. All other players that have bricked ranged mostly from $6 – $1. David Chiu was the outlier at $8. The best value among players is Max Pescatori on Team Brunson with 116 points and he was drafted for $1.

Current Team Standings (as of July 5)

1. Team Leah – 781 (-)
2. Team Martins – 634 (-)
3. Team Negreanu – 580 (-)
4. Team Brunson – 549 (-)
5. Team Fleyshman – 505 (-)
6. Team Gorodinsky – 369 (+1)
7. Team TurboRunGood – 345 (-1)
8. Team Russia – 277 (-)

Check here to see the previous update’s standings.