The final six players have been determined in the Season VII World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship. The Bellagio in Las Vegas will play host to the featured table today at 4:00pm Pacific Time, with Yevgeniy “atimos” Timoshenko holding a commanding chip lead.
Timoshenko won a sizable pot on the final table bubble by busting Brian Rast from the tournament. Timoshenko raised under the gun to nearly three times the big blind of 120,000. Sitting to his left, Christian Harder bumped it to 850,000 and Rast shoved from the big blind. Timoshenko and Rast were each left with about 5.7 million chips and Timoshenko called. Harder got out of the way and, when the smoke cleared, Rast’s A-K was dominated by Timoshenko’s pocket kings. The board was no help to Rast, who finished in seventh place in the WPT Championship for $204,000. The hand boosted Timoshenko into a commanding chip lead. He holds 13.3 million, which is comfortably ahead of Harder’s 7.4 million.
Play on Friday saw the field dwindle from ten to six players. Finishing in eighth place was Justin Young, who earned $163,000 in the $25,000 buy-in tournament. Rast raised to 250,000 pre-flop, Young shoved for 1.2 million, and Rast made the call. When the cards were turned up, Rast showed pocket queens, a four to one favorite over Young’s pocket nines. Young flopped a set of nines, however, pushing him into the lead in the hand, but Rast hit a two outer on the river to send his opponent packing.
Former chip leader Eugene Katchalov was eliminated in ninth place, scoring $130,000. He pushed for about ten times the big blind pre-flop with J-7 of hearts, but was called by Ron Azor, who showed A-K. The flop came Q-10-5, leaving Katchalov needing to catch a seven or running cards to make a straight to win the hand. The turn came a jack, pairing Katchalov, but also giving Azor Broadway. The river was a three, which officially marked the end of Katchalov’s WPT Championship run.
The first elimination of Friday’s play was Bruno Fitoussi, who exited in tenth place and added $98,000 to his bankroll. In his final hand, Fitoussi led out for 210,000 and Shannon Shorr raised to 560,000. Timoshenko shoved for two million, Fitoussi tanked and eventually called, and Shorr folded. Fitoussi showed pocket kings, well ahead of Timoshenko’s A-J. However, the flop came ace-high and one of the two remaining kings in the deck failed to come on the turn or river. The hand sent Timoshenko’s chip stack climbing to 4.7 million and he never looked back.
Timoshenko gained notoriety by winning the August installment of the Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event for $500,000. On eliminating Rast, Timoshenko told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded, “I was very fortune to have had a very aggressive image. Everyone thought I was running over the table, when truthfully I wasn’t really doing it. I knew that people were trying to adjust and play back at me, so I wasn’t opening as many hands.”
Scotty Nguyen also reached the final table. He’ll hold nearly 3.3 million when play resumes on Saturday afternoon. Nguyen is seeking to become only the second player to win both the WPT Championship and World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event; Carlos Mortensen is the lone player to have accomplished that feat. Nguyen also famously stated that he would retire from poker if he failed to earn $4 million by the end of the 2009 WSOP, which gets underway next month. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier is seeking to claim WPT Player of the Year honors for Season VII. He needs to finish in fifth place or better in order to overtake John “The Razor” Phan in the standings. The two longtime poker pros are also seeking to tally three cashes of at least $1 million during their poker careers. Only two players, Dan Harrington and Mortensen, have done so.
History is up for grabs on Saturday at the Bellagio. Here is how the field sits entering the final table:
1. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 13,300,000
2. Christian Harder – 7,425,000
3. Bertrand Grospellier – 5,955,000
4. Scotty Nguyen – 3,275,000
5. Ran Azor – 2,525,000
6. Shannon Shorr – 1,130,000
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from the WPT Championship.
