Daniel Strelitz went into Day 4 of the 2017 World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic as the chip leader and ended it in the same spot as just 18 players remain in one of the WPT’s original tour stops. Finishing with 2.02 million chips, he nearly exactly doubled his chips from the start of the day to the finish.
After Day 3, Strelitz was the only player with more than 1 million chips. Similarly, he ended Day 4 as the only one with more than 2 million. The next closest player is Allan Le, with 1.68 million. After the two of them, just four other players have at least 1 million.
After the night was over, Strelitz spoke with WPT.com about his day, saying that he didn’t expect to be the chip leader again, as he had lost a large chunk of chips early. When asked how he ran his stack up again, Strelitz replied, “I just kept making lots of strong hands. I was opening a lot, and they were letting me kind of just win the blinds over and over, and then I made two straights, made a flush, and got paid off a bunch.”
Both of those straights came late in the evening. The first was against Visnja Luetic, who raised pre-flop to 35,000 and was called by Strelitz. The flop was J-9-5, at which point Luetic bet 75,000 and Strelitz called. The turn was a 7 and once again, Luetic bet 125,000 and was called by Strelitz. I think you can see what’s coming. It was the same betting on the river after a 4 was dealt and Strelitz showed T-8 for a straight, beating Luetic’s J-9, two pair. That hand got Strelitz over 2 million chips.
The second straight was ALSO against Luetic, though Luetic didn’t take as much damage this time. Luetic once again raised to 35,000 and both Strelitz and Rainer Kempe called. The flop was Q-8-8 and this time Luetic checked. Strelitz bet 55,000, Kempe bailed, and Luetic called. Both players checked the King on the turn. Luetic checked the river 9, but called Strelitz’s 140,000 chip bet. Strelitz showed J-T for a straight Luetic mucked her cards.
Strelitz could have finished Day 4 with even more chips, but doubled-up Matt Schultz late to retreat back to the 2 million mark.
One interesting, non-Strelitz note for the day: after the re-draw for the final three tables, Allan Le was seated next to his brother, Nam Le. After Nam was eliminated in 27th place (not by his brother), he told WPT.com of the experience having to compete directly against Allan, “It’s kind of awkward, but it’s bound to happen if we keep playing tournaments and get deep.”
Day 5 will begin at noon PT Wednesday and will conclude when the official six-handed final table is determined.
2017 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Day 4 Chip Counts
1. Daniel Strelitz – 2,020,000
2. Allan Le – 1,680,000
3. Jesse Martin – 1,581,000
4. Joe Serock – 1,157,000
5. Matt Berkey – 1,118,000
6. William Vo – 1,081,000
7. John Cynn – 922,000
8. Mike Sexton – 908,000
9. Rainer Kempe – 798,000
10. Richard Tuhrim – 753,000
11. Donald Maloney – 727,000
12. Jared Griener – 618,000
13. Matt Schultz – 577,000
14. Simeon Naydenov – 448,000
15. Visnja Luetic – 365,000
16. James Calderaro – 318,000
17. Dzmitry Urbanovich – 288,000
18. Dean Baranowski – 273,000