It has come down to the final day of the World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and it looks as though the player to beat is David “Chino” Rheem, who came to the felt on Wednesday with a dominant chip lead he will carry to the final table tomorrow.
Eight men were in the hunt when the cards hit the air on Wednesday and several of them were looking at adding another WPT title to their mantles. Rocco Palumbo, Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Roy, Erick Lindgren and Rheem had all previously won WPT events (Negreanu and Lindgren have won two), while Matt Hyman, Brandon Steven and David Peters were looking for their first WPT crown. With only two players to knock out to set the final table, it was a fairly quick afternoon’s work for the men involved.
Rheem continued to put his foot on the gas, bumping his chip stack up to near the five million mark after taking a hand against Hyman. Negreanu, however, was more aggressive than even Rheem, taking four consecutive hands to more than double his stack in the early going. Less than an hour into play, the first departure of the day would occur between two of the shorter stacks at the start of the day.
Palumbo had come into the day as the short stack and, looking down at a J-8, pushed his stack of 500K into the center from the small blind in an attempt to steal. Steven, in the big blind, looked down to find a K-J of hearts, which he felt was good enough to take to battle. Dominated, Palumbo would be teased with a 10-9-5 flop that brought an open ended straight draw and a flush draw, but the turn and river would not bring any of his outs home to send Palumbo out of the tournament in eighth place.
The players would shuffle their chips around for the next ten hands before the next big move. Negreanu raised from the button and Rheem defended his big blind to see a 10♦ 7♣ 6♣ flop. Both men would check their options and an 8♣ peeled off on the turn. Rheem would bet out at this point, which Negreanu called, and an 8♦ popped on the river. Rheem doubled his turn bet, putting 150K in the center and Negreanu made the call. Rheem showed down a Q♣ 9♣ for the turned flush, while Negreanu showed an 8♠ as he sent the other card into the muck and saw his chip stack slide down to 625K.
The bleeding continued for Negreanu as he saw his stack slide down under 350K; even a double by “Kid Poker” through Hyman wasn’t enough to get his stack out of the basement. In the end, it was his old friend Lindgren who would administer the coup de grace and send him out of the tournament.
After a raise from Rheem, Lindgren made the call on the button and Negreanu defended his big blind. A 10-8-5 flop brought checks from both Negreanu and Rheem, but Lindgren pushed out 120K in chips to continue the action. Negreanu made his move at this point, pushing his final 600K into the center and, after Rheem folded, Lindgren made the call and tabled pocket Jacks, which were easily ahead of Negreanu’s A-10. Looking for an Ace or another ten, Negreanu instead saw another eight and a seven come on the turn and river to eliminate him on the official final table bubble in seventh place.
When the final six men step to the table on Friday afternoon at 4PM (Pacific Time), here’s how they will line up:
Seat 1: Jonathan Roy – 1,900,000
Seat 2: David Peters – 1,085,000
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren – 3,355,000
Seat 4: Brandon Steven – 1,210,000
Seat 5: Matt Hyman – 1,560,000
Seat 6: Chino Rheem – 5,495,000
Rheem’s massive chip stack is going to be difficult to overcome, but the other five players against him have definitive skills of their own that might take him down. Lindgren, back on the tournament circuit after a difficult year, might be the sentimental choice of most of the railbirds, but Roy could be the player to watch; if he can gain some momentum and cut some chips off of Rheem with his position, he will be a dangerous player.
The WPT Championship final table on Friday isn’t the only action going on in the Bellagio. The WPT Super High Roller final table is currently in action and Poker News Daily will have a full report on that event tomorrow after its conclusion.
