As a nor’easter ravages the Atlantic states, the World Poker Tour’s Foxwoods World Poker Finals continues on its merry way in Mashantucket, CT, working down to the 27 players on Saturday who will earn cash in the tournament.
The fun and games for Day Three began with 66 players remaining from the original 189 player field. The plan was to play five levels through Saturday’s action, with the scant hope of being able to reach the money before the end of the festivities. That goal was met, although there were some unfortunate departures along the way.
Day Three chip leader Dan Colpoys got off to a good start on Saturday afternoon, pushing his chip stack up to 270K in the early going. The chance at a repeat champion on the WPT (something that has never occurred) ended, however, when Christian Harder knocked off defending champion Jeff Forrest, holding A-K to Forrest’s K-10. With Forrest’s elimination, there will be a new champion for this particular Foxwoods event.
Foxwoods pro Bernard Lee would perhaps earn the most notable knockout when he went to battle with Erik Seidel. Seidel plopped his last 20K in the center with A-Q and Lee looked him up with his pocket fives. The race situation only got interesting on the turn, with a board of J-6-4-K, but another six on the river would spell the end for Seidel.
Former WPT Foxwoods champion Jonathan Little began to make some moves of his own approximately two hours into Saturday’s play. In a battle of the blinds, Little and Louis Lazzinnaro saw an innocent 9-5-4 rainbow flop, which is where the action picked up. After a bet from Lazzinnaro, a three bet from Little and a four bet from Louis, Jonathan decided he had his opponent hooked. He moved all in, which was called by Lazzinarro.
Once the cards were turned up, it was evident why there was so much action. On the innocuous board, Lazzinnaro thought that his pocket Jacks were good; it turned out to be a bad decision as, with his pocket Aces, Little was way ahead after the flop. Once another fishhook failed to show on the turn or river, Lazzinnaro was eliminated and Little moved to 230K in chips.
Lee would find more action at his table in the form of former WPT Borgata champion Dwyte Pilgrim. The duo would knock heads on at least two occasions, with Lee doubling through Pilgrim the first time around. The second time, it would be Pilgrim at risk, but he wouldn’t make it. Holding an A-9 against Lee’s pocket Queens, a Queen on the flop ended the day for Pilgrim and pushed Lee’s stack north of the 100K line for the first time in the tournament.
With two levels to go in the day, it didn’t look – at the time – like the money would be reached on Saturday. There were 47 players remaining and, with 27 players getting paid, knocking out twenty players seemed to be a reach. The players picked up the pace, however, and the competitors would start falling by the wayside.
Several top pros would be a part of the carnage over the last two levels of the day. Matt Brady, David “Doc” Sands, Jason Mercier and Kathy Liebert were some of the notables that were shown the door at Foxwoods and, after Alistair Melville was eliminated in 28th place, the final three tables were set for Sunday’s action.
When the cards fly this morning in snowy Connecticut, the Top Ten will look like this:
1. Andy Frankenberger, 658,500
2. Jack Schanbacher, 483,500
3. Christian Harder, 378,500
4. Larry Greenberg, 360,000
5. Jonathan Little, 355,000
6. Andy Rossi, 352,000
7. Steven Brackesy, 339,000
8. Daniel Santoro, 331,000
9. Michael Dentale, 250,000
10. Peter Politano, 237,000
Hovering above the average chip count are Chris Klodnicki (236K), Hoyt Corkins (235K), Matt Glantz (226K) and Matt Stout (221K), while Day One chip leader Thomas Schreiber (154K), Lee Markholt (61K), Day Three chip leader Colpoys (51K), Allen Kessler (43K) and Lee (84K) are all going to have their work cut out for them on Sunday.
Five levels are set for play on Sunday, unless the pace of eliminations exceeds the set plans. With the final table set for play on Tuesday, WPT officials may want to slow down the action a bit to allow for some play on Monday, most likely once the unofficial final table is determined at ten players. With the snow whirling around outside the venue, the players will want to stay in the WPT World Poker Finals as long as possible!
