Las Vegas’ Bellagio casino is no stranger to a large helping of live poker final day drama. This year’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship will see a new name crowned champion of the tour and the player with a narrow lead will hope it leads to his gaining of poker’s Triple Crown later this year.
Galen Hall, whose year has already included an EPT title at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, is still sitting pretty atop the chip count. But only just. Leading throughout the previous day, Hall still has a chip count of 5,095,000. The chasing pack is snapping at his ankles though.
The closest to him is Scott Seiver with a stack of 5,075,000. Seizer is one of only two players in the field with a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet to his name and has seen 12 WSOP cashes in his live poker career. The man who currently sits fifth in the chip count dwarfs even this.
Freddy Bonyadi (2,470,000) was already winning bracelets and breaking hearts whilst most of the field were more bothered about whether Nickelodeon were screening Rugrats repeats. His three WSOP bracelets in ’98, ’04 and ’05 knock spots off the achievements of any of the other five in the field. Apart from this, he already has 12 WPT cashes. Never once has he won any of those events though.
Behind Seiver and Hall in the count is Tony Gargano with a stack of 3,885,000. He has a single WPT cash at the LA Poker Classic and may fancy this as his first chance to take down a big tournament.
One player that has been amongst the front-runners all along is Roger Teska. A stack of 3,725,000 already guarantees him his second ever WPT cash. Making up the final six is Justin Young. Starting off with the short stack (1,750,000) he will be hoping to better the second place finish he achieved in the Doyle Brunson Five Star World Poker Classic in ’08.
The action is televised live from the Bellagio and play will go on until a winner is crowned. Get yourself prepared for a mammoth heads-up.
