The 2018 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in California completed the second of its two-Day Ones on Saturday. By the time the dust had settled, there was a new overall leader in Dean Freedlander. With late registration still ongoing, however, the players were still unsure of what they were playing for.

The final Day One of the tournament brought out a flock of players looking for redemption from busting out of Day 1A. From the first flight of the cards, 145 entries were on the tournament clock and many of those were from players who had taken a previous shot. Ari Engel, Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, Blair Hinkle, Curt Kohlberg and Kathy Liebert were all return guests of the tournament, looking to make the most of their final shot (?) on Saturday.

By the time the tournament had reached Level 4 on Day 1B, it was obvious that it was going to be a much bigger day than Day 1A. 199 entries had been received by the start of Level 4 and the players continued to stream in through the Thunder Valley tournament arena doors. That number continued to ratchet up and reached a grand total of 251 entries by the time that the day had concluded.

It was an interesting ride for many pros in the field on Saturday. Ray Qartomy (who had also been a part of the proceedings on Friday) saw his chip stack yo-yo all through the day before he departed late in the action. He wasn’t the only one, however; Liebert and Elias were also victims of the elimination bug and Aaron Mermelstein, Loren Klein, Taylor Paur, Rep Porter, Allen Kessler and Hinkle were all under the original starting stack of 30,000 at the close of business.

Someone who was able to move quietly through the field was Freedlander. The psychiatrist was able to diagnose that his opponents didn’t have much in hands against him, although he did admit to hitting “a few nut flushes on the turn or river” that his opponents didn’t pick up on. There must have been quite a few of those “nut flushes” because, by the end of the night, Freedlander had seized the overall lead.

1. Dean Freedlander, 163,900
2. Tim McDermott, 148,800
3. Paul Nguyen, 137,000
4. Anthony Zinno, 131,500
5. Ari Engel, 123,900
6. Darryl Okamoto, 120,000
7. David Larson, 113,600
8. Kevin Eyster, 110,000
9. Amnon Filippi, 104,000
10. Darrel Dier, 102,400

Along with the finishers from Day 1A, here’s how the overall leaderboard looks:

1. Dean Freedlander, 163,900
2. Tim McDermott, 148,800
3. Sean Marshall, 142,100*
4. Eddy Sabat, 140,000*
5. Matt Salsberg, 139,200*
6. Paul Nguyen, 137,000
7. Anthony Zinno, 131,500
8. Ping Liu, 130,100*
9. Jesse Rockowitz, 126,200*
10. Ari Engel, 123,900

(* – Day 1A Player)

There were 141 survivors from the Day 1B field, bringing the grand total of players that made it through either Day 1A or 1B to 212. The final numbers are not known yet as late registration is going to go through Level 10 on Sunday’s Day 2 action, or about 2PM (Pacific Time). Once Level 11 begins, the final totals will be revealed (still an excellent shot at getting over 400 entries for the overall tournament) and the final prize pool revealed. The tournament is scheduled to play down to its final table on Monday, with the next champion crowned at the WPT Rolling Thunder on Tuesday night.

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The World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event is already down to just 64 players at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort as Day 3 is just getting underway. The money bubble will burst fairly quickly today; just nine eliminations are needed for everyone remaining to breathe a sigh of relief. Leading the charge – and someone who probably isn’t too worried about making the money – is Chris Hinchcliffe with 723,000 chips. Nobody else has more than 600,000 chips and only two other people even have as many as 500,000.

Hinchcliffe has won just over a million dollars in his live tournament career, with his biggest cash accounting for almost half of it. Interestingly enough, it is his first recorded cash on his page at TheHendonMob.com, a third place finish in the 2004 PartyPoker.com Million III $7,000 Limit Hold’em Championship, good for $441,463.

One of the more interesting developing stories of this tournament is the presence of Derek Wolters in Day 3. Wolters has finished third in WPT Main Events twice in the last few months, doing it at WPT Montreal in November and then the WPT L.A. Poker Classic at the end of February. Wolters is currently second in the World Poker Tour Player of the Year Race with 1,800 points; Art Papazyan is first with 2,400. Wolters is not in tremendous shape to start day, but with 167,500 chips entering Day 3, he still sits squarely in the middle of the field. Seriously, he is 32nd in chips out of 64. While he is not exactly comfortable, it also won’t take much for him to push toward another final table. It is poker, after all.

The WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event drew a total of 440 entries, creating a prize pool of $1.408 million. The top 55 players will make the money with the winner receiving $295,128 and min-cash being worth $5,990.

The second place player, Rayo Kniep, knows what it’s all about. Afterward, he expressed his joy to WPT.com, saying, “I’m a lucky player. Running up a ton of chips and playing with people that I know from television. That’s why you play poker. If you have a good time, enjoy it. I can’t help myself. I’m running so good so I have such a good time.”

“This is my first-ever Day 3,” he added. “My dream is to make the final table. I know it’s silly of course, as an amateur player. Telling your friends you can see me on the stream, that’s something I would look forward to.”

It’s not silly at all, man. We are you.

As mentioned, Day 3 of the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event has just gotten started. The plan is to get the field all the way down to the final table.

2018 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders

1. Chris Hinchcliffe – 723,000
2. Rayo Kniep – 567,000
3. Django Young – 500,000
4. Joe McKeehen – 494,000
5. Sam Panzica – 460,000
6. Glenn Larson – 413,500
7. Ian Steinman – 340,000
8. Ping Liu – 322,000
9. Pat Lyons – 281,500
10. John Richards – 265,000

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The final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event was determined Monday night as now just six players remain from the original field of 440 entries. Ping Liu is the chip leader with 3.330 million, but all in all, the top four players are quite close. Behind Liu is 2015 World Series of Poker Champion Joe McKeehen with 2.755 million chips, then Ian Steinman with 2.480 million, and Rayo Kniep with 2.435 million.

Liu is a self-professed cash game player, but clearly he’s doing something right this week in the tournament.

“I recently started studying tournaments a little bit more,” he told WPT.com. “I used to think that there wasn’t that much to it as I do now. I’m starting to see some of the different skills in tournaments that you need. I’m trying to work on that side of my game a lot more because I just want to be a better all-around live player.”

Liu added that he has been trying to pick up tips here and there from watching McKeehen and D.J. Alexander.

Speaking of the 2015 WSOP Champ, McKeehen’s run is that much more impressive (not that his WSOP win, just in general) because he has been battling the flu.

“I’m dead,” McKeehen said. “Fucking had the flu the whole time, but when I’m sick, I play better, obviously. It’s a proven fact. I’m one-for-one.”

Um…anyone need some Purell? I mean, we all try to put it out of our heads that poker chips and cards are disgusting, but that must be fun seeing someone coughing and sneezing and then handling chips that (hopefully) will make their way over to you. But hey, that’s life in live poker – can’t begrudge a guy for willing himself to the final table.

McKeehen has two previous final table appearances on the World Poker Tour, the first in 2016 when he finished fourth at the Borgata Winter Poker Open and second this January, again a fourth place finish in that same tournament.

McKeehen told WPT.com that some bad luck led to his downfall in those tourneys.

“Both Borgata final tables, I ended up getting bad beat, actually. I’d like to not get bad beat [Tuesday]. Both times, I was in a very good spot and the bad beat brought me back to Earth. If I won the hand, I’d be in a great spot.”

McKeehen has nearly $14.5 million in live tournament earnings, about half of that coming from his WSOP Main Event win. That also means that he isn’t a one-trick pony – he has won several million dollars aside from that.

For his part, Ping Liu has $585,709 in live tournament earnings, according to TheHendonMob.com. Most of his cashes look to be in the four-figure range, but he did win $133,110 for a third place finish in a WSOP Circuit Event in 2014. He has two cashes in World Poker Tour Main Events, both coming last year.

The final table has just gotten underway, so we will soon know who will be the newest inductee into the WPT Champions Club.

2018 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts

1. Ping Liu – 3,330,000
2. Joe McKeehen – 2,755,000
3. Ian Steinman – 2,480,000
4. Rayo Kniep – 2,435,000
5. D.J. Alexander – 1,425,000
6. David Larson – 700,000

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Donned in Minnesota Twins gear, David Larson accomplished the improbable, going from short stack to champion in the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event Tuesday night. For the victory, Larson won almost $300,000.

This was by far the largest cash of Larson’s career. In fact, it makes up all but $30,000 of his live tournament earnings. It is also the priciest live tournament ($3,500) in which he has ever played. And he almost didn’t play in it, falling one spot short in a satellite that awarded seats to 23 players.

Larson told WPT.com, “It was a whole comedy of things that went wrong. We were a couple from the money and I had quite a few chips. It was devastating, no doubt about it. It bothered me. I wanted to get the seat, I’m not made of money. It was hard to take. At the last minute, I went to the ATM and grabbed the money and bought in.”

As mentioned, Larson entered the six-handed final table as the shortest stack. And he was definitely a short stack. Take a look:

Ping Liu – 3,330,000
Joe McKeehen – 2,755,000
Ian Steinman – 2,480,000
Rayo Kniep – 2,435,000
D.J. Alexander – 1,425,000
David Larson – 700,000

That was quite the hill to climb. Larson was realistic about his chances and was happy to have already won $56,417; it was that contentedness that helped him make the comeback. It is a wonder what a poker player can do when he feels he has nothing to lose. Larson credited aggressiveness as one of his keys to victory.

He got going right from the start, doubling up on the second hand of the final table to rise to 1.550 million chips. He was relatively quiet for a while after that, seemingly content to stay a little more patient with that slight chip cushion, but on Hand 43, Larson eliminated D.J. Alexander, who had seen his chip stack sink to under 700,000. Larson’s Tens beat Alexander’s K-9 suited and Alexander was out in sixth place while Larson had 2.100 million chips.

It took another couple levels for the next elimination, which served as a lesson about slow-playing big hands. We won’t go through it all, but suffice to say Rayo Kniep had pocket Kings and opted to slow play pre-flop and post-flop. Unfortunately for him, when he did decide to move all-in after the turn, Ian Steinman had hit trip Tens and then improved to a full house on the river to knock Kniep out in fifth place.

A few hands later, Steinman eliminated Ping Liu in fourth place, A-Q dominating Q-T. By Hand 123, Larson’s stack had fallen back 1.900 million while Steinman was cruising at 6.100 million and Joe McKeehen had 4.900 million.

Larson started rising from there, doubling through McKeehen to get up to 2.700 million, then taking another chunk to climb to 4.200 million. He increased his stack a bit more before giving some back to Steinman, but on Hand 147 of the final table, he finished what he started and eliminated McKeehen in third place. It was one of the rare hands where neither player improved and Larson simply won with Ace high (well, technically a pair of Fours, but that pair was on the board).

Going into heads-up Larson trailed Steinman 4.600 million to 8.300 million. Within six hands, Larson had flipped the table, amassing a stack of 7.530 million chips. He continued to drive ahead, getting to the point where his lead was nearly insurmountable, barring a series of double-ups by Steinman.

On the final hand, Larson raised to 375,000 pre-flop and Steinman re-raised to 1.1 million. Larson called to bring on a flop of A-J-6 rainbow. Larson bet 400,000 and Steinman made the call. Both players checked an Ace on the turn and when a Queen was dealt on the river, Steinman bet 500,000, Larson moved all-in, and Steinman called all-in for his remaining 1 million chips. Steinman had pocket Kings, but Larson had A-6 for a full house, giving him his first WPT title and the most lucrative cash of his career.

2018 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder Main Event – Final Table Results

1. David Larson – $295,128
2. Ian Steinman – $201,428
3. Joe McKeehen – $131,081
4. Ping Liu – $97,510
5. Rayo Kniep – $69,650
6. D.J. Alexander – $56,417

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After failing several times to satellite into the tournament and instead buying in directly, David Larson fought from the short stack to win his first major poker tournament title in taking the World Poker Tour’s Rolling Thunder in California last night.

Not only did Larson come off the short stack, it was a “life support” short stack. With only 700,000 in chips, Larson couldn’t even double up and pass fifth place D. J. Alexander with 1.425 million chips. They both were in dire straits when looking up at Rayo Kniep (2.435 million), Ian Steinman (2.48 million) and Joe McKeehen (2.755 million) ahead of them on the leaderboard. Ruling the roost as the cards went in the air was Ping Liu (3.33 million), who seemingly had been at the top of the leaderboard since the start of the tournament.

McKeehen, the former World Champion, was an active participant from the start of the final table’s play. After making a bit of a misstep on Hand 2 in doubling up Larson (Larson’s pocket Queens defeating McKeehen’s A-J), McKeehen rebuilt his stack by brutally running over the rest of the table. Down to 2.3 million after the double to Larson, McKeehen would rebuild his stack within five hands to seize the chip lead from Liu and continue to power his way through his opponents.

After that double through McKeehen, Larson was able to sit back for a bit but, when his moment came around, he would take advantage of it. On Hand 43, a short-stacked Alexander pushed his chips in from under the gun and only Larson looked him up. Larson had the pre-flop lead, his pocket tens over Alexander’s K♠ 9♠, and he kept that lead over the run of the A-8-3-7-Q board. Once at the end of his rope, Larson was now up to 2.1 million as Alexander headed to the rail in sixth place.

It took some time to get to Alexander’s elimination and it would take another lengthy span of time to get to the next elimination. Over the next 60-plus hands, McKeehen would lengthen his lead to the point he held over 50% of the chips in play. It also left the other four players scrambling to see who would challenge the former World Series of Poker Championship Event winner.

The first challenger emerged on Hand 104. After another McKeehen raise, Kniep called out of his small blind and Steinman called off the big blind to see a J-10-5 flop. Strangely, all three players checked the flop and, after another ten came on the turn, Kniep checked his option. Steinman put out a big bet on that turn card and got rid of McKeehen, but Kniep fired over his bet with an all-in move for 1.1 million. Steinman didn’t waste any time calling, turning up 10-8 for the turned trips. Kniep saw that his slow play didn’t pay in this case, turning up his pocket Kings, and he needed one of the two remaining Kings to save his skin. The paint on the river was a Jack, however, ending the tournament for Kniep in fifth place.

The elimination of Kniep seemed to open up the action. Only a few hands after Kniep’s departure, On Hand 109, Steinman would take down Liu, his A-Q dominating Liu’s Q-10, to end Liu’s tournament in fourth place and send Steinman into the chip lead. Larson, meanwhile, doubled up through McKeehen (Larson’s Big Slick picking off a McKeehen steal attempt with Q-7 off suit) once and, in another mano y mano fight between the two, ended the WSOP champ’s tournament when McKeehen made another strong but ill-advised move in push with Q-9 on a J♥ 5♠ 4♥ flop. Larson looked him up with A♥ 7♥ and, after a King turn and a four river, scooped up the remainder of McKeehen’s chips to go to heads up play against Steinman.

Down almost 2:1 against Steinman, Larson’s comeback was stunning to those in attendance in the Thunder Valley poker room, but he wasn’t quite done yet. Within six hands of heads up play, Larson had reversed the standings, moving out to a slight lead (7.5 million to 5.6 million) over Steinman and he would never look back. Although it would take another 20 hands, Larson would complete the unlikely “worst to first” comeback with a stunner of a final hand.

On Hand 171, Larson raised the betting and Steinman three-bet the action to over a million chips, which Larson called. An A-J-6 rainbow flop saw Larson fire again, but this time Steinman only called the bet. A second ace on the turn slowed both men down with a check, but a Queen river saw Larson check-raise all in Steinman’s 500K bet. Steinman called off his final million chips and was dismayed at the result; Larson had flopped two pair with his A-6 and turned a boat as Steinman’s slow played pocket Kings got crushed. As the final chips were pushed to Larson, he shook Steinman’s hand and reveled in his victory in the WPT Rolling Thunder.

1. David Larson, $295,128
2. Ian Steinman, $201,428
3. Joe McKeehen, $131,081
4. Ping Liu, $97,510
5. Rayo Kniep, $69,650
6. D. J. Alexander, $56,417

The WPT crew will now get a bit of a break before charging out for their end of season run. The WPT will be on hiatus until April, when the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, FL, and the WPT Amsterdam in the Netherlands take to the stage. Then comes May and the flurry of action in Las Vegas for the WPT, including two new events at the Bellagio and ARIA, that will close the Season XVI schedule.

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On Friday in the cavernous tournament arena at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL, Day 1A of the World Poker Tour’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown took place. The massive outpouring of players for the first day of action promises that there will be a huge field for the tournament and that the guaranteed prize pool of $3 million will be shattered.

With the $3 million guaranteed prize pool, that meant that the $3500 buy in tournament had to rack up roughly 895 players (taking out the juice) for the Seminole Indians not to be on the hook for the difference. To help reach that mark, there were two Day Ones scheduled and players could re-enter the tournament as many times as they liked up until the start of Level 9. From the start, however, it seemed the players were amped for the event, regardless of what the guarantee was.

When the players came together for the “shuffle up and deal” call on Friday morning, nearly 200 players were already in their seats. The tables in the new Seminole Hard Rock tournament arena rapidly filled from that point, reaching 387 entries by the start of Level 3 and passing the 500 mark (504) to start Level 5. By the time the end of late registration for Day 1A reached a close, 646 entries were in the books, essentially guaranteeing that the Seminoles wouldn’t be reaching in their pockets for any overlay for the tournament by Saturday night.  

With such a large field on Day 1A, you might have thought that it was a softer field. Nothing was further from the truth as, from the start of the day, such notable names as former WPT champions Joe Ebanks, Darren Elias and Jonathan Little were on the felt, joined by Cliff Josephy, Blake Bohn, Neil Blumenfield and the defending champion of this tournament, Tony Sinishtaj. As the day wore on, they were joined by such figures as former World Champion Joseph McKeehen, WPT champions Tony Dunst and Olivier Busquet, Joseph Cheong and Shankar Pillai.

With the players from Day 1A knowing they still had a chance to come back on Day 1B to try to build a stack, play was rather active. Halfway through the day, six players had amassed stacks of more than 100K chips (after starting with 30K) and that number only went up as the evening hours began. By the dinner break, eight members of the field were counted over the magical 100K mark, with Robert Transue over 200K (204,300). By the end of the night, however, there was a new “sheriff” in town, Uri Kadosh, who had assumed the lead.

1. Uri Kadosh, 245,500
2. Robert Transue, 239,500
3. Nguyet Dao, 237,300
4. Paul Snead, 220,000
5. Matt Glantz, 191,500
6. Joseph McKeehen, 187,700
7. John Gordon, 187,500
8. Zachary Smiley, 170,400
9. Brian Hastings, 166,400
10. Joseph Gotlieb, 164,900

Lurking under the Top Ten are such notable names as Scott Clements (158,300 chips), Art Papazyan (156,200), Curt Kohlberg (142,600) and Jeff Gross (142,500). Of the 646 entries received on Day 1A, 227 players will come back for action on Sunday.

When Day 1B begins bright and early at 11AM on Saturday morning, expect a stampede of players to come to the tournament arena. It is likely that the opening bell for Day 1B will have enough players to crack the guarantee and the numbers should soar past 1000 players by the time registration closes. It isn’t out of question to believe that the final numbers will be bigger than last year’s field, which received 1207 entries by the time registration was closed. If it were to do this, the prize pool would easily be over $3.25 million and make for another successful stop for the WPT and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

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The opening salvos have been fired in the 2018 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and the shots have been spectacular. The numbers for the two-Day Ones have set a record for the tournament and, while former WPT champion Eric Afriat took the Day 1B chip lead honors, it is Day 1A leader Udi Kadosh who will have the overall lead heading to Sunday’s Day 2 action.

After 646 entries were received for Day 1A, the masses gathered for Day 1B were ready to smash that figure. Coming out of the gate it was a bit slow as only 169 players were in their chairs when the cards hit the air, but there was quality to the early risers (the tournament started at 11AM). Former WPT champions Darren Elias, Brian Altman, Andy Frankenberger, Jonathan Little (also in on Day 1A) and Afriat were the brightest stars in the Hard Rock tournament arena, joined by Mike Dentale, Ari Engel, Matt Stout, Ankush Mandavia and Joe Elpayaa. With late registration going on until the end of Level 9, however, it would be quite some time before the final figures were in.

Frankenberger had some difficulties coming out of gate as some of the local talent brought the action to him. Cut down to a short stack, Frankenberger found himself in a three-way hand with a Q-J-4-6 two-club flop and turn up for the players to ponder. After a small blind bet and the second player’s call, Frankenberger decided that he didn’t want to mess around anymore, moving his remaining 10K in chips (players started with 30K; this was slightly more than an hour into the day’s play) to the center. His two combatants quickly got out of the way and Frankenberger scooped the approximately 17K pot.

After that first hour, the Seminole Indian tribe also breathed a sigh of relief. The 938-entry mark was passed in that first hour, meeting the $3 million guarantee that they had placed on the tournament. After the recent tournament which suffered from a great deal of controversy after the casino took some unusual steps to try to meet their guarantee, the Seminoles were obviously pleased that they wouldn’t be on the hook for any money and the only question now was how high it would go.

If there is one way to explain the difficulties (some would say unfairness) of the unlimited re-entry format, Chance Kornuth would be that example. Only a couple of hours into the Day 1B action, Kornuth ran his pocket treys into Robert Chusid’s Big Slick and got his chips to the center, only to see the board counterfeit him when it ran out 6-5-5-6-J to give Chusid the hand and knock Kornuth out. Undaunted, Kornuth reached back into his wallet for another $3500 and, by the beginning of Level 5, had worked his way into the Top Five. Would Kornuth have made the same play if it were a freezeout event?

As the dinner break came, the numbers were staggering. 549 entries were in the books, bringing the total number of entries to 1195 with four levels left in the day’s action. As players looked at the tournament clock, there were murmurings that the final figures could break last year’s record numbers, when 1207 entries were received, and that the prize pool could eclipse the $4 million mark.

After the end of Level 9, the players got their answers. With 663 entries on Day 1B, the total field for the 2018 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown totaled 1309 entries, the fifth largest event in WPT history (and breaking last year’s record for the event. The $4,188,800 prize pool will be carved up by the final 164 players, with the eventual champion walking off with the lion’s share of that pool ($696,740).

Perhaps the most stunning thing about the day’s play (other than the massive number of entries) was Afriat’s efforts. After the dinner break, Afriat needed to quadruple up to reach 14,500 chips (that’s not a misprint, folks), but he kept his foot on the gas from there. In the span of one level, Afriat went from “losing every hand for seven hours” (his words, as quoted by the WPT live updates team) to winning everything he touched, building a stack that towered over his tablemates and eventually giving him the Day 1B chip lead.

1. Eric Afriat, 222,500
2. Andrew Wilmot, 218,900
3. Ryan Olisar, 214,600
4. Mark Cole, 207,000
5. Joel Brink, 205,000
6. Joseph Skarzynski, 195,900
7. Andre Crooks, 191,100
8. Raul Lozano, 173,500
9. Juan Martinez, 164,000
10. Aaron Mermelstein, 162,500

Combined with the Day 1A participants, not only will Kadosh hold the overall lead in the tournament heading to Day 2, the top three from Day 1A will be at the helm:

1. Uri Kadosh, 245,500*
2. Robert Transue, 239,500*
3. Nguyet Dao, 237,300*
4. Eric Afriat, 222,500
5. Paul Snead, 220,000*
6. Andrew Wilmot, 218,900
7. Ryan Olisar, 214,600
8. Mark Cole, 207,000
9. Joel Brink, 205,000
10. Joseph Skarzynski, 195,900

(* – Day 1A players)

From the 1309-entry field, there will be a total of 480 players who will return for action on Sunday morning. It is possible that they will reach the money bubble on Sunday, but a better bet might be Monday for the popping of said bubble. With the massive field for this tournament, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the state of Florida and the World Poker Tour have shown that the much talked about “death” of the big-field poker tournaments have been, as in the words of Mark Twain, “greatly exaggerated.”

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The World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is speeding to its conclusion, as Day 3 saw the field narrowed from 81 to just 14. Things will slow down a bit today, though, as the plan is to get rid of just eight players to set up the six-handed final table. One would think, though, that this would at least mean Day 4 will be relatively short. But with the money jumps starting to increase and spots at the final table on the line, you never know how things might play out. One thing we feel safe to predict is that chip leader Scott Margereson will be around a while, as with 9.210 million chips, he has more than double the stack of his closest competitor.

Margereson is in search of his first World Poker Tour title. In fact, of the remaining 14 players, only Victor Ramdin is a member of the WPT Champions Club. With a minimum payout of more than $43,000 already locked up, Margereson is in store for at least the fourth highest cash of his career. Though his lifetime live tournament earnings of $570,039 pale in comparison to some of the players at the Seminole Hard Rock today, take a look at his recorded online tournament earnings (via PocketFives): $4,173,887. He is currently 186th in PocketFives’ worldwide online poker tournament rankings, having been as high as 16th just two years ago.

Margereson began Monday’s action among the chip leaders with about 1.2 million chips and really just gradually chipped up throughout the day. There didn’t seem to be one face-melting, blockbuster hand that rocketed him to the lead. A couple of his bigger hands simply involved jump-starting the action early, building a pot, then forcing his opponent out without a showdown. In two hands spread out during the course of the day, he won somewhere around 1.7 to 1.8 million in combined pots against Faraz Jaka alone.

He did have one huge hand, though, thanks to the final elimination of the day. He raised pre-flop to 60,000, Joseph Cheong called, and Roberto Alberro re-raised to 200,000. Margereson and Cheong both called to bring on a flop of 5-4-2. Alberro bet 300,000, Margereson called, and Cheong folded. On the turn 2, Alberro shoved for 1.755 million and Margereson called. Both had overpairs, but Margereson’s Queens were better than Alberro’s Tens. The river was of no consequence and Alberro was out in 15th place while Margereson increased his stack at the time to 8.8 million chips.

2018 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown – Day 3 Chip Counts

1. Scott Margereson – 9,210,000
2. Joey Couden – 4,060,000
3. Tanner Millen – 3,825,000
4. Brian Hastings – 3,375,000
5. Joseph Cheong – 3,300,000
6. Zach Donovan – 2,765,000
7. Brian England – 2,430,000
8. Faraz Jaka – 2,360,000
9. Jeff Fielder – 2,095,000
10. Matt Stout – 1,790,000
11. Pedro Palacio – 1,590,000
12. A.J. Gambino – 1,240,000
13. Victor Ramdin – 775,000
14. Nicholas Schuman-Werb – 550,000

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It was a relatively short day at the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Florida on Tuesday, but that was to be expected, as only eight players needed to be eliminated for the tournament to reach the six-handed final table. After six hours, that final table was determined with Brian Hastings emerging as the chip leader of an extremely tough group of players.

Hastings enters Wednesday’s action with 12.855 million chips, giving him a sizeable edge over his closest competitor, Joey Couden (8.255 million chips with blinds and antes of 40,000/80,000/10,000). The chip leader going into Tuesday, Scott Margereson, is third with 8.195 million. After those three, there is a gap to the next three, but the next trio is a load to handle: Jeff Fielder (4.320 million), Matt Stout (3.190 million), and Faraz Jaka (2.450 million).

Hastings is no stranger to deep trips in major tournaments. He owns three World Series of Poker bracelets: 2012 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up, 2015 $10,000 Seven Card Stud, and 2015 $1,500 Ten Game Mix Six-Handed. Overall, he has more than $2.6 million in live tournament earnings.

He is still gunning for that first World Poker Tour title, though, which makes him no different than the five other players at the final table. They are all accomplished: Jaka won the Season VIII WPT Player of the Year race, Couden has over a million dollars in tournament winnings, Stout has $3.7 million in earnings, multiple WSOP final tables, and a fifth place finish in this event four years ago, and Fielder is trying to become the first player to win a WPT Main Tour title and a WPTDeepStacks title.

As we told you a few days ago, this is the largest WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in history, with 1,309 entries. It is also the fifth-largest World Poker Tour event of all time. Now, that number is slightly misleading, as since it is an unlimited re-entry event, the tournament didn’t actually have 1,309 players, hence the use of the word “entries.” That said, the fact that so many people would be willing to plunk down multiple $3,500 buy-ins is impressive.

938 entries were needed to meet the guaranteed prize pool of $3 million, so that turned out to be no problem whatsoever. The total prize pool escalated to $4,188,800 with the winner taking home nearly $700,000.

2018 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown – Final Table Chip Counts

1. Brian Hastings – 12,855,000
2. Joey Couden – 8,255,000
3. Scott Margereson – 8,195,000
4. Jeff Fielder – 4,320,000
5. Matt Stout – 3,190,000
6. Faraz Jaka – 2,450,000

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In one of the longer final tables of the Season XVI schedule, Scott Margereson was able to vanquish Faraz Jaka to win his first major live tournament championship, the 2018 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, early on Thursday morning.

Margereson, who was a fixture in the Top Ten since Day 2 of the tournament, started off the day as the third largest stack among the six men at the final table. Brian Hastings had a massive 12.855 million stack, but Joey Couden (8.255 million) and Margereson (8.195 million) were within shouting distance. Looking to come off the short end of the game were Jeff Fielder (4.32 million), Matt Stout (3.19 million) and Jaka (2.45 million).

The sextet would play out the remainder of the level from the night before (40K/80K, 10K ante) and jump to Level 30 (50K/100K, 15K ante) before the action would get warmed up. On Hand 34, Couden took enough chips from Margereson and Fielder to move into the lead over Hastings, but ten hands later the tide would swing in Margereson’s favor. After a raise from Jaka, a call from Margereson and Fielder and a completion from Hastings in the big blind, a 10-10-4 flop greeted the players. Hastings would be the only one who dropped from the action after Jaka popped a 325K bet in the center and the 7♣ put two clubs on the baize. Jaka now checked his option but, after Margereson bet 1.35 million and Fielder called after some thought, Jaka cleared out of the way.

Now down to two players, the 6♣ put the possibility for a flush on the board. Margereson used up a Time Chip to consider his action before he settled on an all-in move. Fielder, thinking he had trapped Margereson, immediately called and spiked his 5♣ 4♣ on the felt for the rivered flush. That wasn’t good enough, however; Margereson turned up two red fours for the flopped boat that had Fielder drawing dead from the start. After the chips were counted, Fielder was determined to be the player at risk for elimination, leaving the tournament in sixth place.

Only three hands later, another player would go down. Stout would open the betting and Jaka would three-bet him until Stout’s remaining stack was in the center. Stout turned up pocket tens for the fight, but Jaka had the goods for battle with pocket Queens. A Queen on the flop left Stout drawing way thin and the case Queen on the turn left him drawing dead, sending the popular philanthropist (Stout is the founder of the Charity Series of Poker)/poker professional to the rail in fifth place.

Now down to four players, Couden (12.14 million) and Margereson (12.005 million) were the massive leaders, but Hastings (9.045 million) and Jaka (6.075 million) looked to make a run at the top. Hastings drew first blood, doubling up through Couden when his pocket Aces defeated Couden’s pocket sevens after both players flopped a set, to take over the lead. Margereson, however, would fight back to take the lead away from Hastings again as Level 32 began.

With the blinds beginning to catch up with the stacks, the swings became more massive. Over the span of 20 hands, every man at the table held the lead. Another 20 hands, however, would lead to another player leaving the tournament.

After a Couden raise under the gun, Jaka woke up in the big blind and three bet the action. Couden would move all in and Jaka snapped off the call, showing pocket Kings that served as a cooler to Couden’s pocket Queens. Once no ladies came to the flop, turn or river, Couden was out of the tournament in fourth place as Jaka took over the lead with more than half of the chips in play.

The trio of pros (while Jaka and Hastings have quite a bit of live success, Margereson’s has come online, where he has earned over $4 million in tournament earnings) battled it out over 45 more hands before someone took command. That “someone” was Margereson, who knocked out Hastings after he rivered a flush and headed to heads up action against Jaka with nearly a 3:1 lead.

The twosome would play for 30 hands without a significant move in the chip counts, but on the 200^th hand of the final table the drama became more intense. After Jaka limped in and Margereson checked, a K-8-7-9 flop and turn only brought a before from Margereson on the turn and a Jaka call. An Ace on the river brought another bet out of Margereson, this time for three million chips, but Jaka read Margereson for a bluff and called. Jaka was correct as Margereson, holding a 10-5, had air as Jaka tabled his 7-5 for bottom pair, good enough to take the pot and tie up the event as each player held 19.6 million chips.

With the match even, any hand held the potential for a player to be eliminated. That outcome arrived on Hand 232 after Margereson moved all in and Jaka made the call. Jaka’s A-8 held the advantage pre-flop against Margereson’s Q-J, but the poker fates put a Q-J-9 flop that switched the advantage to Margereson. The turn seven teased Jaka with the inside straight possibility, but the Ace on the river slammed the door and knocked Jaka out in second.

1. Scott Margereson, $696,740
2. Faraz Jaka, $454,496
3. Brian Hastings, $336,466
4. Joey Couden, $251,523
5. Matt Stout, $189,880
6. Jeff Fielder, $144,775

With the completion of the tournament in Florida, the WPT will now head to Las Vegas for a spate of tournaments to complete Season XVI. The WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship will be conducted from May 1-6 and a WPT High Roller event ($25,000 buy in) will take place from May 5-6, with the final table of that tournament being played on May 25 at the sparkling eSports Arena Las Vegas. The WPT will give one more shot for players to win on the Season XVI schedule with the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic from May 20-23 before bringing together as many current and former champions as possible for the WPT Tournament of Champions. That tournament will run from May 24-26, with the final table also being held in the eSports Arena Las Vegas.

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With the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown taking place last week and drawing one of the biggest crowds in Tour history, it was easy to forget that there was another WPT event going on across the pond: WPT Amsterdam. The €3,000 + €300 Main Event drew 207 entrants, generating a prize pool of nearly €600,000. Home town hero (well, home country hero) Rens Feenstra won WPT Amsterdam, cashing for $192,335 (converted from Euros).

The win put Feenstra over the $1 million mark for lifetime live tournament earnings. This was his first World Poker Tour title, but he was quite familiar with tournament end-game situations, as he has a number of tournament wins, including two others in the six-figure range.

Feenstra was the overwhelming chip leader going into the six-handed final table, so it certainly appeared that he was destined for at least the top two. With 2.949 million chips, he nearly as many chips as the other five players had combined. His closest competitor, Ema Zajmovic, had just 793,000 chips.

Zajmovic actually took a big chunk of Feenstra’s chips right from the jump, doubling through him to escalate her stack to 1.742 million. And within a few orbits, she had grabbed the chip lead. In fact, what looked like a cruise for Feenstra turned into quite the competition, as by the 48th hand, he was down to fourth place. It was as tight match, though, with the spread between first and fourth being only about 300,000 chips.

Feenstra was close to gone by Hand 100, falling to 325,000 chips, but he doubled to stay alive while Zajmovic was rolling. He managed to double through Zajmovic to get his stack into “I need to be taken seriously again” territory and eventually it was the two of them heads-up for the title, Zajmovic holding a 3.910 million to 2.135 million chip lead.

Within 20 hands, Feenstra had wrestled back the lead and was finally above the mark where he began the final table (which shows how huge his lead was). Zajmovic took the lead right back and so the see-saw began. Both players kept tilting the table, but neither could pull away. Neither could, that is, until Zajmovic doubled-up on Hand 213 of the final table to grow her stack to 5.310 million chips, leaving Feenstra under a million.

But you know Feenstra won, so forget all that “pulling away” business. Within a few hands, he had doubled-up twice to take about a 2-to-1 lead. But Zajmovic herself then found a double and again the lead went back to her. Back and forth they went.

The most significant hand was Hand 235, when both players made a straight on the turn, so all the chips got in the middle. Feenstra’s straight was better, though, and he zoomed up to 5.310 million to Zajmovic’s 915,000.

A few hands later, Feenstra sealed the deal, his K-9 out-kicking Zajmovic’s K-4, denying his opponent her second WPT title.

2018 World Poker Tour Amsterdam Main Event – Final Table Results

1. Rens Feenstra – $192,335
2. Ema Zajmovic – $123,320
3. Firoz Mangroe – $73,972
4. Gary Miller – $45,258
5. Louis Salter – $34,950
6. Paul Berende – $28,967

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Continuing the legacy of honoring those who were instrumental in their contributions to the World Poker Tour and the poker community also, the WPT will give their WPT Honors Award to two men who will join a legendary cast in May.

On May 22, the WPT will look back into their past and honor Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman, two men whose vision created the WPT and cemented its place in poker history. “The WPT is deeply proud to present two extraordinary icons of our industry with the WPT Honors Award,” Adam Pliska, the Chief Executive Officer of the World Poker Tour, said during the announcement of the awards. “These Honorees represent the pioneering ingenuity and passionate leadership that has abundantly influenced poker. Mr. Steve Lipscomb and Mr. Lyle Berman brought poker to new heights with the creation of the World Poker Tour, and their passion and dedication have allowed the WPT to become what it is today.”

It goes without saying that, without these two men, there wouldn’t be a World Poker Tour in existence today. Lipscomb was the man who came up with the concept of a tournament poker series that traveled to different casinos. He also knew how he wanted to present these tournaments. Rather than the staid productions that had come previously where the viewers weren’t shown the hole cards, Lipscomb knew that showing these cards would be critical to driving the broadcasts of the tournaments. With that in mind, he utilized the development of the “lipstick camera” as a method of providing the viewer with the excitement of the game.

From the time the WPT debuted in 2002, Lipscomb was instrumental in the success of the show. He served as the director and producer for every episode during the first eight years of the program, with the WPT becoming one of the catalysts of the mid-2000s “poker boom” that erupted during those years. For his efforts, Lipscomb has previously been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the inaugural American Poker Awards in 2015.

While Lipscomb was the one who had the idea, it was Berman who was the one who provided the monetization and the background to be able to work in the cutthroat casino industry. As a businessman, Lipscomb was responsible for the growth and expansion of Grand Casinos, Inc., which allowed him to be able to finance the WPT in its infancy. Because of his casino background, he was also a key player in the negotiations with the different casinos across the States of America and the world when it came to creating the schedule of events and to allowing for the taping of the programs.

Berman’s experience in the world of poker is also noted in his other achievements. He is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, earning over $2.6 million in his career in tournament poker. He is also a feared cash game player, giving him the gravitas to be elected into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2002.

The WPT Honors Award is a relatively new accolade in the poker world, but it has a glowing list of honorees. Former WPT announcer, hostess and tournament director Linda Johnson was the first-ever honoree in February 2017. Later that same year in June, former WPT announcer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton and French poker legend Bruno Fitoussi (instrumental in bringing the WPT to the legendary Aviation Club in Paris) were also feted the award.

Ceremonies to honor both Lipscomb and Berman will be held during the play of the WPT Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas in May. That tournament will be held from May 24-26, so it is likely there will be one night chosen to honor both men simultaneously. Congratulations to Lipscomb and Berman for receiving this prestigious award!

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The World Poker Tour announced Wednesday that it is continuing to increase its presence in Asia, returning to both Japan and Korea with WPT Japan and WPT Korea at Paradise City, respectively. Both tour stops will take place in September.

“The World Poker Tour is thrilled to announce WPT Japan and WPT Korea as part of our 2018 schedule,” said World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska in a press release issued to poker media outlets. “Asia played an important role in the WPT’s success in 2017, and we are proud to return to the region in 2018. Last year, the WPT historically kicked off Season XVI with WPT Beijing and held the first-ever WPT Japan. We are honored to have the opportunity to continue to fuel poker’s growth in this burgeoning region and showcase the wealth of talent Asian players have to offer.”

The World Poker Tour is once again partnering with Japan Poker Union Corporation for WPT Japan, which will be held in Tokyo September 15th through September 17th. The buy-in will be JPY 30,000 (approximately USD $272). When WPT Japan was announced last year, there was some confusion initially as to whether there was actually a buy-in, but there was: JPY 25,000. All prizes, though, were in the form of WPT event packages. For instance, the winner of the WPT Japan Main Event won a $10,000 “multi-passport.”

WPT Korea will be September 18th through September 24th at Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea. The Main Event will begin on September 21st. In a player-friendly setup, the World Poker Tour will give players at WPT Japan the opportunity to play the early stages of the WPT Korea Main Event while still in Japan and then join up with the rest of the field in Korea later. Buy-in for the WPT Korean Main Event is KRW 1.1 million (approximately USD $1,018).

WPT Korea is also unique in that it will feature the first-ever $5,000 WPT Teams Event (yes, it’s in U.S. currency, not Korean currency). Not much detail has been given as to the structure, but each team will be composed of four players. Each team will also represent a country and only one team is permitted per nation, with 16 teams max. The teams will battle it out in “up to” six events, all variations of No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha. That’s all the detail the World Poker Tour has put out there for now. We don’t know if it will be a tag-team type of event, if all members of every team will be competing simultaneously, or if each team will select one player to represent it during each event. In any case, it’s interesting. The players on the winning team will receive entries into the WPT Korea Main Event.

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As the Grateful Dead once said, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” Then again, you could say that about pretty much every season of the World Poker Tour! Over the next week, the WPT will wrap up its Season XVI schedule with two tournament stops at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

What started over a year ago (the first official tournament on the Season XVI lineup was in Beijing back in April 2017), Season XVI has crowned 18 champions to this point. Over the next week, two more men will pick up the moniker of “WPT Champion” as they battle through some of the most difficult competition in the world. It will all kick off on Sunday afternoon as the final “open” event on the WPT schedule for this season takes place.

Announced during the run of the Season XVI schedule, the first of those two tournaments will be a newcomer to the WPT family. The WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic is a $10,000 ($9600 to the prize pool, $400 to the “juice”) buy in event that is a throwback to the “old school” ways of tournament poker. No multiple Day Ones, no rebuys, no bells and whistles. Day One will start at noon on Sunday and that is the ONLY “first day” of the tournament, although late registration will run until the start of Level 11 on Monday. Not only is it a throwback in the structure of the tournament, it is also one of the few $10,000 buy in tournaments on the WPT schedule (the L. A. Poker Classic and two tournaments at the Bellagio, the WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship and the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, round out the $10K roster).

The tournament is named for one of the venerable legends of the world of poker. Bobby Baldwin has pretty much done it all in in his time in poker – winner of the 1978 World Series of Poker Championship Event, four WSOP bracelets in total and an extended time as one of the most feared cash game players in the world that was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2003 – and in the business world. In 1982, he became a consultant with the Golden Nugget casino and, two scant years later, was named the president of the casino.

Baldwin moved on from the Golden Nugget to helm some of the biggest casino operations in Las Vegas. In 1987, he would move to the Mirage and, in 1998, was named the president of the Bellagio. Only two years later (after the merger of Mirage Resorts and MGM Grand), Baldwin became the Chief Executive Officer of the Mirage Resorts arm of MGM Mirage. Because of his presence in the world of high stakes poker and legend in the game, the poker room at the Bellagio was christened “Bobby’s Room” when it was built and now he has a tournament in his name on the WPT circuit also.

The eventual champion of the inaugural WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, which will be crowned on May 23, will be the last qualifier for arguably the biggest show on the WPT calendar. The WPT Tournament of Champions begins on May 24, featuring a unique roster of players that can take part. The champions of the Season XVI schedule have had $15,000 removed from their prize pools to be able to participate in this tournament, but what makes it special is the other players who can participate in the event.

While the Season XVI champions are automatically qualified for the event, every previous champion on the WPT – roughly 220 players – can take part in the tournament, if they pony up their $15K entry fee. This is the third running of the event, with the first two events being contested in Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.

Those two tournaments, to be honest, were a bit smaller than perhaps expected. In 2016 (the first year of the event), only 64 players took part (with WPT Champions’ Club member Farid Yachou taking the title; he has had two tournament cashes since then and hasn’t cashed since 2016). In 2017, Daniel Weinman emerged from the 66-player field to capture the title. It is hoped with the move to Las Vegas (and the upcoming 2018 WSOP on the schedule afterwards) that there will be more former champions taking their shot at the WPT Tournament of Champions (which replaced the WPT World Championship).

However you look at it, the next week will be filled with poker action and the WPT will be in the middle of it. For more info on the tournament or to follow the live action, be sure to visit the WPT website to learn more.

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We have entered the most exciting time on the poker calendar! The World Series of Poker begins next week, but before that, the sixteenth season of the World Poker Tour will draw to a close. The WPT Tournament of Champions begins in a couple days and right now, the final open event of the season – the $10,000 WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic – is taking place at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. After just two days, only 20 players remain from the original 162 entries with Jonathan Little – no stranger to these situations – holding 763,000 and the chip lead.

Little is in position to become just the sixth person to win three World Poker Tour titles, looking to join Darren Elias, Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Chino Rheem, and Anthony Zinno. Elias himself is still in the tournament, though near the bottom of the chip counts, so he has a chance to be the first to win four. It’s been a while for Little – he previously won the 2007 WPT Mirage Poker Showdown and the 2008 WPT World Poker Finals.

He has earned $6.7 million on the live tournament circuit in his career, according to TheHendonMob.com, and has another $1 million in recorded online tournament cashes.

As my colleague Earl Burton mentioned the other day, the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic is a bit of a throwback event on the Tour, as it goes back to the $10,000 buy-in that used to be the norm and there were no re-entries or additional starting flights. Just a good, old high buy-in freezeout.

As one might expect in a $10,000 tournament (except for the WSOP Main Event), the remaining field is littered with top players. In second place is Stephen Chidwick, about 200,000 behind Little. Also set to play on Day 3 are such names as Sam Panzica, Bryan Piccioli, Joe McKeehen, Phil Hellmuth, and the aforementioned Elias.

Little surged to his lofty chip position in large part because of a couple big hands near the end of the night. With 23 players left, he and Andrew Lichtenberger got involved in a hand which saw Little raise pre-flop, Lichtenberger re-raise to 23,000, and Little call. It went check (Little), bet, raise, and call on the 4-3-T turn. When a 9 was dealt on the turn, Little shoved and Lichtenberger – who was covered – called for 143,000 chips. Little had him, holding pocket Tens versus Lichtenberger’s pocket Nines. The river bricked and Lichtenberger was out of the tournament while Little grew his stack to 620,000.

A few hands later, Tim Reilly bet pre-flop and Little called to see a flop of J-J-7, two clubs. Reilly bet 5,000, Little raised to 18,000 and Reilly called. On the turn 8, Reilly slowed down and checked, but then called when Little bet 45,000. The river was a K, which made a diamond flush possible, and Reilly once again check-called, this time for 110,000 chips. Little revealed 9-T of clubs for a straight and Reilly mucked. Little was up to 760,000 chips, just about where he ended the night.

World Poker Tour Bobby Baldwin Classic – Day 2 Chip Leaders

1. Jonathan Little – 763,000
2. Stephen Chidwick – 576,500
3. Sam Panzica – 411,500
4. Bryan Piccioli – 395,000
5. Joe McKeehen – 332,500
6. Kevin Eyster – 259,000
7. John Krpan – 230,000
8. Ralph Perry – 226,000
9. Dietrich Fast – 225,000
10. Rex Clinkscales – 222,000

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Big-time poker is coming at us fast and furious right now. The final table of the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Bobby Baldwin Classic is here, then it will be the WPT Tournament of Champions, followed by the World Series of Poker. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves (then again, we’re talking a matter of days here, so it’s not all that far), let’s focus on the Bobby Baldwin Classic, where Darren Elias has a massive chip lead going into the six-handed final table.

Elias will begin Wednesday’s action with 2.127 million chips, nearly as many as the next three players combined. He has more than two and a half times as many chips as his closest competitor, Dietrich Fast. Needless to say, Elias is in the driver’s seat at the final table. This is poker, though, and the tide can turn quickly. And if one of the other players does much of the dirty work at the final table, things could get very tight in a hurry.

Beyond the size of his chip stack, the importance of Elias’ position is that he has an excellent shot at becoming the first player in history to earn four World Poker Tour titles. There are currently five men who have three titles: Elias, Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Chino Rheem, and Anthony Zinno. Jonathan Little, who is the short stack today with 300,000 chips, could match them provided he goes on a hell of a run.

Elias also made history in November 2014 when he became just the second player in history to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles. He won the WPT Borgata Poker Open that September and followed that up with a victory at the WPT Caribbean. Marvin Rettenmaier was the first player to do so, but the difference in his effort versus Elias’s was that Rettenmaier’s spanned two seasons. He won the season ending WPT World Championship in 2012 (which in itself is probably a more “prestigious” win than either of Elias’) and then kicked off the next season with a win at WPT Cyprus.

Not long after Elias accomplished the feat, Anthony Zinno did the same, winning the 2015 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic and then the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Zinno edged out Elias for the WPT Player of the Year title that season.

While many people would be thrilled to make the final table of the WPT event and cash for six figures (the top four will make at least $130,895), Elias is not one of those people today. He is well aware of the position he is in and has no interest in anything but his fourth title.

“No, no, if I don’t win, I’ll be pretty disappointed,” he told WPT.com after Day 3. “I had a similar situation in Jacksonville earlier this [season] and I wasn’t able to win. Hopefully, I can redeem myself this time.”

Five other players will have a say in that.

2018 World Poker Tour Bobby Baldwin Classic – Final Table Chip Counts

Darren Elias – 2,127,000
Dietrich Fast – 801,000
Kitty Kuo – 683,000
Sam Panzica – 566,000
Joe McKeehen – 385,000
Jonathan Little – 300,000

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Etching his name into the history books, Darren Elias made history last night in defeating Kitty Kuo to capture his fourth ever World Poker Tour championship in winning the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic.

It seemed as if it were almost predestined for Elias to rewrite the record books on Wednesday. He sat on nearly half of the chips in play (2.127 million, 44%) and none of his other final table mates were even over the million-chip mark. Dietrich Fast (801,000), Kuo (683,000), Sam Panzica (566,000), Joe McKeehen (385,000) and Jonathan Little (300,000) faced the task of building up a stack to challenge Elias. Regardless of who walked away with the championship, it was arguably one of the most accomplished final tables in the history of the WPT, with eight WPT titles and almost $40 million in tournament earnings between the six players.

Surprisingly, the battle down to the final two was rather quick as players looked to make their moves. Little was the first to go off his short stack, even though he won the first three hands he played (the first three hands of the day, actually). The fourth hand, however, saw Little limp out of the small blind and Panzica put him to the test by declaring all in. Little made the call to put himself at risk and certainly had to be pleased to see his A-J was a significant leader over Panzica’s A-4.

That confidence disappeared when the 4-2-9 flop hit the felt. Panzica took over the lead in the hand, which expanded once an eight came on the turn. Down to roughly a 6% chance in one of the three Jacks remaining in the deck, Little instead saw a worthless five come on the river to see the end of his tournament in sixth place.

After Little’s knockout, there was a bit of a lull before the next would occur. On Hand 42, Panzica would suffer the fate that befell Little when, after he bet out under the gun, Elias three-bet the action to 110K. With only about 400K in front of him, Panzica decided to make his stand and pushed his stack to the center. Instead of pondering the situation, Elias made the call quickly and the cards went to their backs.

It was a classic race situation, Panzica’s Big Chick (A-Q) up against Elias’ pocket sixes, and the 5-10-3 flop did nothing to change the hand status. A second five on the turn left Panzica drawing to six outs for his tournament life. None of those six, however, would appear, as the trey on the river helped no one, kept Elias in the lead and sent Panzica to the rail in fifth place.

About 20 hands later, the foursome left on the felt became a trio. After a Fast limp and an Elias call, Kuo decided to push the gas pedal in popping her tablemates with a 125K bet. Fast pondered his action, using a Time Bank chip for a few extra seconds, before making the call and Elias left skid marks leaving the hand. A two-diamond K-3-6 flop saw an out-of-position Kuo move all in to test Fast, but it wasn’t even a test. Fast immediately called and tabled his pocket Aces for the lead hand, although Kuo’s A♦ 10♦ had a plethora of outs to draw to. Those outs came home on the Q♦ turn, leaving Fast drawing dead; after the formality of the final card (a trey), Fast packed up and left the felt in fourth place.

Down to three players, it looked as if Elias (2.422 million) and Kuo (1.662 million) would be the ones to battle it out as McKeehen (778K) looked for a way to get in the mix. Ten hands after Fast’s knockout, McKeehen would find the hand to go to war with, going up against Elias and his A♣ 2♣ with an A♦ Q♦ of his own. The dealer, however, held the cards and handed out a 7-2-K that immediately changed leadership in the hand. A five on the turn kept Elias in the lead and, after an eight hit the river, McKeehen was done for the night and out of the tournament in third place.

With the win in the hand, Elias held 3.562 million chips to go against Kuo’s 1.3 million heads up. Simply because of the chip edge, Elias was a huge favorite to win but Kuo would prove to be a formidable opponent. Elias was able to get Kuo close to the felt on a couple of occasions, but Kuo would come back strongly. On Hand 155, Kuo’s pocket Kings doubled through Elias’ Big Slick to pull her within 440K of the lead, but that would be as close as she would get.

That would be her final stand, although it would take another 19 hands for the end to come. On Hand 174, Kuo moved all in immediately and Elias called just as quickly, with Elias’ A-10 off suit holding the edge over Kuo’s A-5 off suit. When the Jack high board ran out (4-J-8-7-2), the tournament was over and Darren Elias captured the inaugural championship of the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic.

Darren Elias, $387,580
Kitty Kuo, $248,380
Joe McKeehen, $178,610
Dietrich Fast, $130,895
Sam Panzica, $97,795
Jonathan Little, $74,520

With the win, Elias breaks the logjam that had developed atop the all-time winners on the WPT list. In taking his fourth WPT championship, Elias steps above Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Anthony Zinno and David ‘Chino’ Rheem (all with three titles) to stand alone on top of the WPT mountain. He also will be participating in the 2018 WPT Tournament of Champions that begins today (he was eligible to play as a former champion if he ponied up the buy in but, with the victory in the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, he now is in without having to pay).

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The final event of the Season XVI schedule for the World Poker Tour is underway as the WPT Tournament of Champions kicked off action at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The third running of the tournament was expected to be a bigger affair than its two predecessors and the players didn’t fail to deliver. The first ever tournament (won by Farid Yachou) was held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL, and drew out a respectable 64 player field. Last year, the ToC came back to the Hard Rock for the second running of the tournament and saw a slight uptick with 66 players in attendance (and the tournament won by David Weinman).

For 2018, the “powers that be” at the WPT decided to bring the tournament a little closer to some of its champions in an effort to bring out some “fence riders” who might not otherwise play. With all the champions of the Season XVI schedule automatically in the tournament (courtesy of having $15,000 deducted from their winner’s checks), any person who had previously won a WPT Main Tour event was eligible for entry (provided they put up their $15K). Having the tournament in Florida previously was good; WPT officials were hoping the change in venue to ARIA would make the event better.

From the start of the day’s play, the decision to move to Las Vegas looked to be a good one. Season V champion Adam Weinraub and Season IV champion Gavin Smith were some of the distantly past champions who joined up with newly crowned WPT Player of the Year Art Papazyan (who had to sweat Joe McKeehen’s run at the final table of the WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic before taking the crown) and Season XVI champs Darryll Fish (WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open), Maxime Heroux (WPT Montreal) and Dennis Blieden (WPT L. A. Poker Classic) to start the day. After two levels, 52 former champions were in the field and only grew from that point.

Blieden was the player who enjoyed the opening day festivities the most, seemingly never making a mistake through the day. In an early hand, Blieden would battle against Guo Liang Chen on an 8-4-9-8-7 board. Chen would fire out a 11K bet into a roughly 15K pot. Blieden tanked for quite a bit of time, even using a time extension chip, before he would make the call. It turned out to be the right move; Chen tabled a Q-J for a blown straight draw while Blieden tabled a 10-9 for a flopped top pair that improved to two pair to take the hand.

If there was an active pot going on, it seemed that Blieden was a part of it. Battling against Rens Feenstra, Blieden would put Feenstra at risk on a 5-2-10-4-5 board by betting out 38K chips, roughly what Feenstra had in front of him. After some deliberation, Feenstra decided discretion was the better part of valor and let the hand go and Blieden’s stack grew again.

Blieden continued to run over the players that crossed his path, taking out Andy Frankenberger in a rather fortuitous fashion. On a 6-4-2 flop, the duo went back and forth until all Frankenberger’s chips were in the center. While Frankenberger had pocket Aces, Blieden’s set mining had paid off with his pocket sixes finding another on the flop. Another four on the turn improved Blieden to a boat and, needing to avoid the two Aces in the deck, saw a Jack finish the board to eliminate the Season 9 Player of the Year and push Blieden into the chip lead.

After a break following Level 5, the final field was set for the event. 80 former champions had come out for the 2018 WPT Tournament of Champions, by far setting a record for the tournament. The top ten finishers in the tournament will earn a piece of the prize pool, with $463,375 going to the eventual champion. The eventual champion will return in 2019 for the ToC and will also receive a Hublot Big Bang Unico Titanium Ceramic Watch, a $50,000 membership to JetSmarter and have their name etched on the Tournament of Champions trophy.

While Blieden kept climbing, other former champions found the rail. Daniel Negreanu, Heroux, Joe Tehan, James Calderaro, Mike Vela, Season II WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic champion Paul Phillips, Mike Leah, Brandon Cantu and Matt Salsberg were unceremoniously sent from the tournament. After the carnage subsided, only 29 players were left from the original 80 runners that came to the line.

1. Dennis Blieden, 593,000
2. J. C. Tran, 305,000
3. Marvin Rettenmaier, 234,500
4. Erik Seidel, 223,000
5. Asher Coniff, 187,500
6. Justin Young, 176,000
7. Darren Elias, 170,000
8. Art Papazyan, 166,500
9. John Hennigan, 143,500
10. David Benyamine, 139,500

Play resumes at noon on Friday at ARIA in Las Vegas and will play down to the final six players that make up the official WPT final table. Those players will then step to the new eSports Arena Las Vegas on Saturday for the crowning of the 2018 WPT Tournament of Champions victor.

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Registration opens and live satellites begin for the 2018 World Series of Poker, but before that, the World Poker Tour needed to wrap up its sixteenth season. And so it did Sunday, as Matthew Waxman won the WPT Tournament of Champions.

The WPT Tournament of Champions began in 2016 as an invitation-only tournament, a departure from the former WPT Championship, which was a standard – albeit more prestigious – open event. Only people who have won a WPT Main Event title can participate. Those who have won one this season get a free seat, while the rest still must pay the $15,000 buy-in to play.

This is also the first year that the WPT Tournament of Champions is in Las Vegas, the previous two being held in Florida. The move was made to try to increase participation, as the new location, ARIA, is closer to where many American poker pros are, plus people are headed to Las Vegas this week to play in the WSOP. It is a much easier decision for a past WPT champ to play in the WPT Tournament of Champions when he is already going to be in town, rather than having to fly across the country.

And while the field wasn’t large – it was never going to be by the nature of the event – it was an improvement over the past couple years. The Florida-based tournaments drew fields in the mid-60’s, while this year’s event saw 80 players sign up.

Waxman qualified for the WPT Tournament of Champions by winning the WPT Grand Prix de Paris Main Event back in 2011. Since then, he has had a very nice several years of cashes, including one WSOP bracelet, some final tables, and some six-figure scores, but his record has been relatively non-descript as far as the world’s best poker players go. Winning this weekend was one heck of a way to kick off the summer.

Interestingly, Waxman almost didn’t register for the tournament, telling WPT.com afterward:

I was thinking about not playing because it’s a big buy-in and I wasn’t too confident in my game, but I jumped in there after feeling pretty good lately. It’s just a great tournament. You’re playing with a lot of these big faces that you’re used to seeing on TV and you’re just playing these big pots. Although there were only 80 players, the atmosphere – you can just feel the tension. It’s a real treat to play, and to be able to win this thing is amazing.

In winning the WPT Tournament of Champions, Waxman also denied Darren Elias what would probably be the week of his poker life. Elias won the $10,000 Bobby Baldwin Classic last week to become the first player to win four WPT titles and just missed out yesterday, finishing third in this event. A victory would not have extended his record to five WPT titles, though, as only open events count for that.

WPT Tournament of Champions Final – Table Results

1. Matthew Waxman – $463,375
2. Matas Cimbolas – $265,590
3. Darren Elias – $177,060
4. David Benyamine – $123,045
5. Nick Schulman – $89,290

Lead image: WPT via Flickr

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In 2008, the World Series of Poker made the bold move to shift the final table of the WSOP Main Event to November, creating a four-month gap between the time the tenth place finisher was eliminated and the start of the official final table. The “November Nine,” as it was called, lasted nine years until it was done away with in 2017. Now the Main Event continues when the final table is determined, just as is the case with any tournament. Well, any tournament except for some World Poker Tour events this year. Yes, that’s right, the year after the WSOP got rid of the November Nine, the WPT has announced some of its final tables will be delayed by several weeks.

The Tour’s Very Own “November Nine”

It was an oddly quiet announcement from a couple weeks ago. The WPT normally puts anything and everything in a press release, but this news was announced at a media event before the season-ending Tournament of Champions final table. Thus, it certainly was no secret, but it also wasn’t broadcast to the world.

Nine WPT Main Events out of the group that is slated to be televised will be halted when the six-handed TV final table is set. A number of weeks later – estimated to be three to six – the remaining players will meet at the Luxor’s Esports Arena Las Vegas to battle it out to the end. It is not known yet which tournaments will have the delayed final table, as the list of televised events still needs regulatory approval.

If the Esports Arena sounds like an odd venue, keep in mind that the WPT just held a couple events there: the WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship $25,000 High Roller final table and WPT Tournament of Champions final tables were both moved to the $25 million facility.

The WPT expects to hold multiple final tables in the same week.

But What’s In It For The Players?

The idea behind the November Nine was to give players a chance to acquire sponsorships and get coaching, as well as give ESPN a chance build a narrative over months of broadcasts leading up to the final table. It was a decent idea, but none of that really worked all that well. It wasn’t terrible by any means, but it wasn’t great and going back to the standard schedule was a good move.

The final table delay- especially considering the elimination of the November Nine – is a strange decision and is getting criticized by many in the poker community, as it seems like something that is decidedly not player-friendly. It will be a pain in the ass for many players to have to make another trip to finish a tournament, especially if they aren’t pro players and need to get more time off from work (and pros may have to forego other tournaments). Players won’t even receive the minimum final table payout during the wait, as they did in the November Nine.

The WPT says it will be good for players because a) getting paid in Vegas is better because Nevada taxes tend to be lower than in other places, b) they will be treated like rock stars in Las Vegas, and c) they can get coached up to prepare for the final table.

I would be willing to bet most players don’t care about any of those things. The taxes, maybe, but not necessarily at the expense of time for many. Almost nobody is going to care about going to WPT-hosted parties and most won’t care about coaching.

In the meantime, the WPT probably saves a lot of money by not having to build and take down a final table set at different venues. It is also probably trying to establish the Esports Arena has poker’s “cool” venue. It’s a branding effort. Everything about this move seems to benefit the WPT and not the players. It’s just weird.

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