The 2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship is down to just six players. Leading the final table is Dylan Smith, who bagged up 28.400 million chips at the end of Tuesday night. The chip leader going into the past two days, Josh Reichard, is second with 20.575 million chips.
There is quite a gap between Reichard and the rest of the final table. Aaron Kulpin is the short stack with 4.925 million chips, but the rest of the pack is bunched up. Landon Tice has 13.700 million, Alex Queen has 13.450 million, and Jesse Lonis has 12.350 million chips.
Smith began Day 4 with about 5 million chips and used some big hands to grow his stack by huge chunks.
One such hand came with 15 players remaining. Jackob Datashvili raised to 250,000 pre-flop and Smith called. On the Qh-7s-5s flop, Datashvili bet 275,000 and Smith once again made the call. With the 9c on the turn, Datashvili bet 1.100 million, prompting another call from Smith, albeit with much pondering. After using two time bank chips, Datashvili moved all-in for 4 million when the 6d came on the river. This time, Smith made a fast call.
It was good luck turned bad for Datashvili. He had pocket Sevens for a flopped set, but Smith held Queens for a better flopped set. Datashvili was out in 15th place and Smith was up to 11.700 million chips.
Right after that, he forced a fold by Reichard on the river by going all-in to claim a pot of over 3 million chips and overtake Reichard for the chip lead.
In another leap, Alex Queen, who was second in chips going into the day, raised to 400,000 pre-flop. Smith re-raised to 1.400 million and Queen called. An all-red flop of 6h-2h-5d prompted Smith to bet 800,000 which Queen called. Smith then went big with a 4 million-chip bet when the 5c came down on the turn and Queen called again. The 7h was dealt on the river and Smith shoved, having Queen covered. Queen eventually folded to drop to 9.500 million chips, while Smith climbed to 26.500 million, not far from where he currently sits.
The tournament is now paused. It will resume on May 29th at the televised final table in Las Vegas.
2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship – Final Table Chip Counts
- Dylan Smith – 28,400,000
- Josh Reichard – 20,575,000
- Landon Tice – 13,700,000
- Alex Queen – 13,450,000
- Jesse Lonis – 12,350,000
- Aaron Kupin – 4,925,000