Chino Rheem will take the chip lead into the final table of the $25k WPT World Championships after Daniel Negreanu and Rocco Palumbo fail to make the cut on Day Five.
The final table of the $25k WPT World Championships is set and there is no room for Daniel Negreanu and Rocco Palumbo. The Canadian and the Italian were eliminated in seventh and eighth place respectively and the final six now get a day of rest ahead of the 16:00 (PT) kick off on Friday.
The day began with the chip leader Chino Rheem promising ‘cruise control’ and Negreanu, Palumbo and David Peters needing to double up. Unsurprisingly, it was the in-form Negreanu who reached that goal first, and he didn’t even need to get his chips into the middle – the Canadian winning a spate of pots to take him into the middle of the pack.
Palumbo did get all his chips in and the net result was an exit from the competition. The Season XI WPT Venice Grand Pix winner moved all-in for 510,000 in the small blind, and Brandon Stevens called in the big blind. Cards were turned over; Palumbo showed [Js] [8h] and Steven showed [Kh] [Jh]. The board ran out [Ts] [9s] [5s] [9c] [5c] and Palumbo had to settle for an eighth place finish worth $137,085.
Palumbo did get all his chips in and the net result was an exit from the competition. The Season XI WPT Venice Grand Pix winner moved all-in for 510,000 in the small blind, and Brandon Stevens called in the big blind. Cards were turned over; Palumbo showed [Js] [8h] and Steven showed [Kh] [Jh]. The board ran out [Ts] [9s] [5s] [9c] [5c] and Palumbo had to settle for an eighth place finish worth $137,085.
Breathing room was something that Daniel Negreanu was desperately short of. Despite his promising start Negreanu just couldn’t win a hand until eventually he doubled through Matt Hyman. Negreanu moved all-in for 325,000 from the small blind and Hyman called in the big blind. It was [Ac] [Kd] for Hyman and Negreanu was in a world of hurt holding [Ad] [Qs] – that was until the [Qc] reared her lovely head on the flop. Negreanu was up to 785,000 – good for 26BB – and people started wondering if the Canadian was going to make it back-to-back World Series of Poker (WSOP), European Poker Tour (EPT) and World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables.
Then just nine hands later and the day came to abrupt end. Chino Rheem raised to 85,000 in first position, Erick Lindgren called on the button and Daniel Negreanu called from the big blind. The dealer pushed a flop of [Th] [8s] [5h] onto the board and the action checked to Lindgren who bet 120,000, Negreanu check raised all-in for 605,000, Rheem folded and Lindgren made the call. It was pocket jacks for Lindgren and [As] [Tc] for Negreanu. The [8h], and [7d], completed the action and Negreanu was the final table bubble boy.
Despite coming so close, it has to go down as an amazing achievement for Negreanu after winning the WSOP-APAC Main Event and then finishing fourth at the EPT Grand Final, and I have a feeling he is going to be making a few more final tables when the WSOP kicks off in just a few days time.
Chino Rheem will enter the final day as the chip leader as he aims to win his second WPT title, Erick Lindgren is going to be trying for his third WPT title and Jonathan Roy can still pip Matt Salsberg for the WPT Player of the Year race if he can win his second WPT title.
Here are the final table standings.
Final Table
Seat 1: Jonathan Roy – 1,900,000 (47BB)
Seat 2: David Peters – 1,085,000 (27BB)
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 3,355,000 (83BB)
Seat 4: Brandon Steven – 1,210,000 (30BB)
Seat 5: Matt Hyman – 1,560,000 (39BB)
Seat 6: Chino Rheem – 5,495,000 (137BB)
