After three days of play, the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), has seen its starting group of 433 whittled all the way down to 51. Taylor von Kriegenbergh is the pacesetter with 1.08 million in chips, just ahead of the mound of 1.02 million that belongs to Abbey Daniels.
Von Kriegenbergh helped his cause on the last hand of the day by sending home Lauren Kling. The money went in on a king-high flop, with Kling holding K-10 to von Kriegenbergh’s A-K. No help came for the young female superstar and von Kriegenbergh boosted his stack even further.
Today, three of the top four chip stacks, including von Kriegenbergh, will be seated at Table 2. The group also includes Justin Zaki (third in chips with 461,000) and former WPT champ Tommy Vedes (fourth in chips with 446,500). Also finding their way to Table 2 will be Darren Elias, Timothy “highlandfox” Finne, and poker pro Hung Le in what will surely be a lively lineup.
Von Kriegenbergh’s reign of terror also included a late elimination of David “Davidp18” Peters, who was all-in with A-9 of clubs before the flop. Von Kriegenbergh held a wired pair of jacks and promptly flopped a set.
Vedes, who won the 2009 WPT Festa al Lago for $1.2 million three months after a 19th place run in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, doubled up late in the day to keep his title hopes in Florida alive. Vedes open-shoved on a board of 9-9-8-8-A and David Farber made the call. Vedes tabled bullets for a full house and Farber mucked.
Chris “SLOPPYKLOD” Klodnicki was bumped after his A-J could not hold up against A-10. Klodnicki’s opponent flopped one 10, turned another, and then hit an ace on the river for a full house to send the accomplished online poker pro home. Klodnicki is a WSOP Circuit gold ring winner and fresh off a runner-up finish in the Circuit Regional Championship in Atlantic City for $221,000.
Finally, the antics of Michael “Squeaky” Winnett came to an end on Friday in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown. Winnett, who was two infractions away from being expelled from the tournament, called all-in with 6-5 of clubs on a flop of Q-9-5 with two clubs for bottom pair and a flush draw. Kazu Oshima held A-3 of clubs for the nut flush draw, which hit on the river to send Winnett home.
Earlier in the day, Winnett muttered such classic lines as, “You can’t beat luck! I don’t care how good these guys are, you can’t beat luck!” He sat out the first orbit of Friday’s play for “discussing his holdings with action pending against Allen Bari,” according to WPT coverage.
Here are the top 10 players on the leaderboard entering Day 4 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown:
1. Taylor von Kriegenbergh – 1,080,500
2. Abbey Daniels – 1,016,500
3. Justin Zaki – 461,000
4. Tommy Vedes – 446,500
5. Brent “Astrolux85” Roberts – 441,000
6. Timothy Miles – 427,000
7. Bruce Snell – 427,000
8. Curt Kohlberg – 413,500
9. Todd Terry – 410,000
10. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey – 374,500
When the action paused last night, the blinds were at 2,500-5,000 with an ante of 500. Other notable poker pros who remain, along with their chip stacks, include:
11. Noah “fouruhatrers” Schwartz – 361,500
22. Blair Hinkle – 228,500
24. Shawn Cunix – 208,000
26. Mike Sexton – 192,000
28. Mike Beasley – 174,000
29. Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar – 169,500
34. Hung Le – 150,000
40. Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski – 120,500
41. Zachary Clark – 119,000
46. Sam Stein – 94,000
We’re five players away from the money, as the top 46 will walk away with cash in hand. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown.
