It was a relatively quick day at the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event as the remaining field of eighteen was trimmed to just six. Action still lasted nearly seven hours, but for a major tournament, that’s not bad at all. Thus, the final table has been set and right now, it looks like it is Griffin Paul’s to lose, as he has a healthy chip lead over his closest competitor. With 14.290 million chips, is about 4 million ahead of Andre Crooks and has about the same amount as the bottom three players combined. Of course, one big hand could turn things around and that’s why more cards will be dealt on Wednesday.
One can’t amass over 14 million chips in a tournament like this and not have a few big hands. One of the most significant for Griffin Paul came about halfway through Day 4. According to WPT.com, Ely Levy, the chip leader going into the day, limped pre-flop for 60,000, Paul raised him up to 180,000, Dan Heimiller called, and Levy called. On the flop of T-7-4 rainbow, Heimiller checked and Levy came out firing, betting 400,000 chips. Paul would have nothing of it, raising to 900,000. That got Heimiller out of the way, but Levy called to bring on a 9 on the turn. Levy slowed down, checked it to Paul, who moved all-in. Levy pondered his decision, as he was covered by Paul, but eventually made the call all-in for around 3.33 million chips. He showed Q-T for top pair, Queen kicker, but Griffin Paul had pocket Queens, a better pair. The river was a 7, dooming Levy, who exited the tournament in 11th place. Griffin Paul saw his chip stack elevated to 10.1 million, the largest in the tournament at that point.
A while later, Paul watched Andre Crooks raise to 180,000 pre-flop and then David Peters re-raise to 430,000. Paul welcomed the spewage, as he four-bet to 1.1 million. Crooks got out of there, but Peters went all-in for 2.1 million. Naturally, Paul made the call, showing A-K, but Peters had pocket Aces, dominating Paul. Easy game, right? Nope. The flop of K-J-3 paired Paul and another King on the turn gave him trips, enough to shockingly knock out Peters in 10th place.
A million bucks is what they are playing for on Wednesday. The final table will begin at 4:00pm ET.
2015 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
- Griffin Paul – 14,290,000
- Andre Crooks – 10,350,000
- Joe Ebanks – 6,585,000
- Brian Green – 5,205,000
- Ryan Rivers – 4,170,000
- Shawn Nguyen – 3,615,000
