Just six players remain in the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event, with the winner to be determined Wednesday afternoon. Enjoying a substantial chip lead is Istvan Briski, whose 23.975 million chips are more than double those of his closest competitor.
But while Briski has the chips, a few other players have the experience. In third place is Fred Goldberg (13.325 million), who is at his third World Poker Tour final table, not to mention his 10th place finish in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event. Rayan Chamas (11 million) is in fourth place and has made a WPT final table before. And though he has an extreme uphill battle, Darryll Fish (4.625 million, fifth place) won the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in 2018.
Rounding out the final table are Sandy Sanchez (15.050 million) in second place and Matt Bond (4.350 million) coming in as the short stack.
Everyone at the final table is guaranteed at least $157,800 in prize money, though they have their eyes trained on the top prize of $752,500.
Briski was the chip leader entering Tuesday’s Day 4, though the standings were much tighter. He had 11.875 million chips to start the day and while nobody else even had 10 million, several players had over 7 million. Most of the rest were bunched in the 3 million-chip range or thereabouts.
In many of these big events, we often see the final table chip leader take down one or two massive pots to get to the pole position, but in Briski’s case, it was more constant pressure and chipping up that did it for him. With eight players remaining, he was still only around 17 million. It wasn’t until after that point that he hit a couple bigger pots to boost his stack to the levels where it stands now.
Though he does not have the WPT final table experience that some of his opponents do, Briski does have some deep runs in other events. Just this summer, he finished third in the $777 Lucky 7’s event at the WSOP. He also made two final tables at the WSOP Online last year, including a fifth place finish in the Main Event.
His total live earnings are under a quarter million dollars, but that 2022 WSOP Online Main Event score alone made him $883,404 and his other final table was a $451,883 cash.
The party is just about to get started at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. Come back later to see how it turned out.
2023 WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
- Istvan Briski – 23,975,000
- Sandy Sanchez – 15,050,000
- Fred Goldberg – 13,325,000
- Rayan Chamas – 11,000,000
- Darryll Fish – 4,625,000
- Matt Bond – 4,350,000
