Last December, Stephen O’Dwyer, known in the online poker world as “MrTimCaum,” made the final table and finished sixth in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. On Monday, he’ll look to turn in another deep run in a WPT event by widening his chip lead at the Festa al Lago in Las Vegas. O’Dwyer holds a stack of 844,500 after three days of play, or 140 big blinds.
Forty-one players are left in the hunt for the $831,000 grand prize at the WPT Festa al Lago. Second place on the leaderboard belongs to former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year Jeff Madsen, who amassed a stack of 814,000 on Sunday. Madsen is in pursuit of his first WPT final table, having bubbled the Bay 101 Shooting Star finale three years ago after finishing eighth.
O’Dwyer would have held an even wider lead over the competition if not for an untimely double up of Allen Kessler late in the day. “Chainsaw” was all-in before the flop with A-K of hearts and O’Dwyer showed pocket jacks for a race. Kessler flopped an ace, shot up to 230,000 in chips, and ended the day in 26th place with 259,000.
The conclusion to Sunday’s play saw John Monnette deliver a rare double knockout. Joe Elpayaa and Joe Brandenburg were all-in on a flop of Q-8-4 with two diamonds. Elpayaa turned over A-9 for ace-high, while Brandenburg revealed 6-5 of diamonds for flush and straight draws. Monnette held strong with pocket aces and had both of his opponents covered. The turn was the four of hearts and the river was the three of hearts, sending both Elpayaa and Brandenburg to the rail. Each picked up nearly $13,000 for their three-day run at the Bellagio. Several hands earlier, Elpayaa had hit a runner-runner wheel to double up.
Former WSOP Europe Main Event champion Annette Obrestad, who held the second largest stack entering Sunday’s play, doubled up with jacks against A-K to move to 395,000 in chips. “Annette_15” eased off a bit from there, ending the day with a total of 343,500, which is good for 16th place. Obrestad will be the chip leader at Table 58 on Monday and her company will include the likes of Erik Cajelais, DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija, and Ryan Young.
Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith was ousted in 48th place and picked up over $12,000. He came out on the short end of a race with pocket sevens against the A-J of Jimmy Tran in his final hand and headed for the exit. Not as fortunate was Owen Crowe, the Bubble Boy at the Festa al Lago. Smith sealed his in the money finish by relegating Crowe to the rail in 51st place much to the delight of the other players left in the field.
Here’s how the top 10 players on the leaderboard look after three days of play in the WPT Festa al Lago. When the action wrapped up on Sunday, the blinds were 3,000-6,000 with an ante of 500:
1. Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer – 844,500
2. Jeff Madsen – 814,000
3. Randal “RandALLin” Flowers – 795,500
4. Andreas Hoivold – 632,500
5. Jason “jakoon1985” Koon – 586,000
6. Lyle Berman – 458,500
7. Ryan Goindoo – 450,000
8. Michael “benvo123” Benvenuti – 444,500
9. Jared Jaffee – 426,500
10. Brandon Steven – 425,000
The rest of the field stacks up as follows, with an average chip count of 326,000:
11. McLean Karr – 388,500
12. Matt “All In At 420” Stout – 382,500
13. Brandon Novena – 375,000
14. Andy Frankenberger – 360,500
15. Daniel Alaei – 355,000
16. Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad – 343,500
17. Trevor Pope – 331,500
18. Erik Cajelais – 320,500
19. John Monnette – 313,500
20. Barry Greenstein – 291,500
21. Bobby Suer – 286,000
22. Nancy Todd Tyner – 277,500
23. John Krpan – 275,000
24. Ronald Lee – 267,000
25. Matt “mcmatto” Affleck – 262,500
26. Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler – 259,000
27. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 215,000
28. James St. Hilaire – 214,000
29. Mark Newhouse – 213,500
30. Jeremy Rafalowicz – 209,500
31. Amit “amak316” Makhija – 204,000
32. Mitchell Kessler – 198,000
33. Noah Schwartz – 181,000
34. Chad “lilholdem954” Batista – 180,000
35. Kaied Barkho – 166,000
36. Skip Wilson – 141,500
37. Lauren “locoenlacabeza” Kling – 141,000
38. Jimmy Tran – 123,500
39. Ryan Young – 95,500
40. David “Davidp18” Peters – 93,500
41. Tony Bracy – 68,000
Day 4 will kick off at Noon PT. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT headlines.
