Three days down, one to go. The six-handed final table has been set at the 2019 World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event. The chip leader going into Wednesday is Gueorgui Gantchev with 5.560 million chips.
As we discussed yesterday, the top of the leaderboard was jam-packed going into Tuesday’s action. Two players were tied for the lead and several others were right there, holding hands with them. The final table isn’t that close, but it is still shaping up to be an extremely competitive match.
Gantchev has a fairly sizeable lead, more than a million chips above Jisup Hwang, but with blinds at 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 chip ante, that gap could close quickly. Vahan Sudzhyan is about another million back. The next two players, Jared Griener and Antonios Roungeris, both have about 2.7 million, while the short stack is Aaron Van Blarcum with about 2 million. So there is a decent chip spread top to bottom, but nothing that can’t be overcome in a hand or two.
With a minimum payout at the final table of $96,955, Gueorgui Gantchev has already more than doubled his lifetime recorded live tournament earnings. His total coming into the Legends of Poker Main Event, according to TheHendonMob.com, is $84,778. Most of his cashes are four-figure scores.
Gantchev grew his stack throughout Day 3, but made a late charge to rise to the top. He eliminated Jeremy Joseph, the co-chip leader going into the day, in ninth place. Joseph raised pre-flop to 100,000 and Gantchev called. After an all-spade 9-5-7 flop, both players checked. Another spade, a 3, fell on the turn and Gantchev bet 100,000. Joseph called to bring on the 8d on the river. Gantchev bet 200,000, Joseph shoved for 795,000, and Gantchev called, revealing Js-7h for a flush, while Joseph flipped over A-J for just Ace-high. His bluff was picked off.
Gantchev was then responsible for ending the night. Taylor Black moved all-in pre-flop for 615,000 with K-9 of spades and Gantchev made the call with J-8 off-suit. The board came out Q-6-6-T-9 to give Gantchev a straight and setup the final table.
“I definitely ran very well. I got lucky and tried to slowplay some hands and trap a lot. I play a little bit different and I don’t have fear, so you saw the last hand and I just got lucky,” Gantchev told WPT.com after his successful day.
The final table will begin at 2:00pm Pacific on Wednesday. As mentioned, everyone at the final table is already guaranteed nearly $100,000, but they certainly all have their sights set on the first prize of $474,390.
2019 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
- Gueorgui Gantchev – 5,560,000
- Jisup Hwang – 4,380,000
- Vahan Sudzhyan – 3,335,000
- Jared Griener – 2,750,000
- Antonios Roungeris – 2,720,000
- Aaron Van Blarcum – 2,050,000