The World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star has completed its Day 3 play, setting up for an exciting final table that still features two of the Shooting Stars (bounty players) remaining in the tournament.
36 players came back to fulfill their dreams of reaching a WPT final table, with Imad Allahham having the most realistic chance at that with his leading 1.717 million chip stack. Two of the four Shooting Stars remaining – Sorel Mizzi and Faraz Jaka – were sitting in the Top Ten with a good chance of moving on, while the other two Shooting Stars left – Chris Moorman and Garrett Greer – had their work cut out for them if they were going to make the final table. Other players such as Isaac Baron, Taylor Paur, Giacomo Fundaro, Ryan Julius and Jacob Bazeley were amongst those who also maintained their dreams of a WPT championship as Thursday’s action began.
Paur had some difficulties with Julius from the start, doubling Julius up twice to see his once-sizeable stack chopped down to only 418K, but he would recover as the day proceeded. Jaka seemed to want to keep his bounty medallion around his neck and the poker gods seemed that they wanted that as well, delivering Jaka a Jack on the flop when he was all in against Toby Lewis’ pocket Kings. Greer became the first Shooting Star to depart the Thursday festivities, running his A-10 into Justin Kindred’s Big Slick without fanfare in departing in 28th place.
As the afternoon wore on, Baron began to make his move up the leaderboard. He cracked the million chip mark in eliminating Griffin Paul from the tournament and eclipsed the 1.5 million chip mark in dumping Ki Nam from the tournament in 23rd place. He kept the knockout streak going as, on a 9♥ 9♦ 3♥ 10♥ J♥ board, Baron’s 5♥ 5♦ played for a flush in defeating Shaun Buchanan’s pocket Kings to push him up to close to two million chips.
Now with only 19 players remaining, Allahham was still in the lead but was facing incredible heat from Baron. Day 1B chip leader Haixia Zhang got back into the action in eliminating the second Shooting Star from the tournament, Moorman, when her J-10 was able to catch on the board against Moorman’s A-3. In sending home Moorman in 18th place, Zhang got his bounty medallion and a $2500 cash prize but, more importantly, moved her stack up to 1.64 million chips to remain competitive in the tournament.
The players would reach two tables before the dinner break after Zhang got a bit unlucky. Eric Werner and Zhang got their chips to the center, Werner with K♦ J♦ and Zhang with Big Slick, and the 9♣ 8♦ 3♣ changed little. The 9♦ provided Werner with some more outs and they came home with an A♦ on the river for the nut flush. After the chips were counted, Zhang was the player at risk and out of the tournament in 13th place while Werner moved into the lead.
Following the dinner break, it was Baron’s time to shine. Down to nine players, Baron would eliminate Ron Lewis and Day 2 chip leader Allahham to push his 6.72 million stack into the lead. After Baron’s knockout of Allahham, the remaining seven players convened at one table and the television bubble lasted for exactly ONE hand. After a min-raise from Paur, Mizzi made the call and Werner popped his stack in the center for an all-in three-bet. Bazeley made the call and, after Paur and Mizzi came along, an A-9-4 flop hit the felt. Mizzi bet into the dry side pot and, after Bazeley made the call, Paur put his cards in the muck. A deuce on the turn brought another Mizzi bet and another Bazeley call, but the river trey put the brakes on both players with a check. Bazeley showed an A-2 for Aces up and Mizzi first, then Werner mucked as Werner exited the tournament in seventh place to set up today’s final table.
1. Isaac Baron, 6.715 million
2. Taylor Paur, 4.27 million
3. Jacob Bazeley, 3.92 million
4. Faraz Jaka, 2.92 million (Shooting Star)
5. Sorel Mizzi, 1.92 million (Shooting Star)
6. Ravee Mathi, 1.47 million
The final table resumes play at 4PM (Pacific Time) at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star with each of the remaining players assured of a six-figure payday. The ultimate prize will go to only one individual, however, with tonight’s fortunate champion taking down a $1,214,200 payday.
