Like two trains on a collision course on the same stretch of track, the end of the casino day and the 7th place elimination were charging towards each other Tuesday morning at the Jacksonville Poker Room, host of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Jacksonville stop. The goal for Day 3 was to whittle the field from 42 to the final six, but as the hands of the clock advanced past midnight, one problem began to loom: the poker room was to close at 3:30am. Fortunately, with about an hour and a half to spare, Matt Ezrol was eliminated, setting up today’s six-handed final table. The top stack, by leaps and bounds, is Massachusetts’ Anthony Ruberto, with 4.5 million chips.
Ruberto is a relative unknown in the poker world, despite solid career earnings of $437,259 on the live tournament circuit. He has a number of final table appearances and two tournament wins, though most have been in fairly minor tournaments that received little fanfare. Over half of his winnings came from one tournament, the $4,750 No-Limit Hold’em Fall Poker Open Championship at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, where he placed 2nd for $275,242. Regardless of how he finishes the final table on Tuesday, it will be his second World Poker Tour cash to go along with one World Series of Poker score.
Also of note is Lisa Hamilton, who is vying to become the first woman to win a World Poker Tour title. Natalia Nikitina won the WPT National Series Paris earlier this year, but according to the World Poker Tour, the Regional and National caliber events do not qualify as WPT titles. She is no stranger to winning live poker tournaments, having won the Ladies’ Championship at 2009 World Series of Poker. She also placed 5th in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller event. Going into final table play, Hamilton is in good shape with 1.901 million, behind only Vitor Coelho (2.57 million) and Roberto.
The final table will begin at noon EST on Tuesday as the remaining six players vie for the $325,928 first prize. Though it will be a rare untelevised World Poker Tour final table, fans can watch a semi-live stream (there will be a half-hour delay), including hole cards, on WPT.com starting at 12:30pm.
The winner, as already mentioned, will receive $325,928, while the runner-up will take home $287,762. The first player to be eliminated today will win $46,315, still a decent little salary for someone working a “real” job.
World Poker Tour Jacksonville Main Event – Final Table Seat Assignments and Chip Counts
Seat 1: Darryll Fish – 641,000
Seat 2: Anthony Ruberto – 4,500,000
Seat 3: Sam Soverel – 1,432,000
Seat 4: Vitor Coelho – 2,570,000
Seat 5: Artie Rodriguez – 797,000
Seat 6: Lisa Hamilton – 1,901,000
