On Thursday at 4:00pm Pacific time, the final table of the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker tournament will kick off from the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California. Six players remain to battle it out in the nationally-televised final table, which will be broadcasted on Fox Sports Net as part of the WPT’s new agreement for Season VII. Amit Makhija enters the final table holding just under 30% of the chips in play, which means that the other five players have a lot of work to do in order to catch up to this young poker prodigy. Makhija held the chip lead since very early on in Day 4, which occurred on Wednesday.
Makhija’s composure throughout the Legends of Poker has been unmatched. He told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman, “This feels like any tournament. I don’t think it’s set in yet and I haven’t played that many World Poker Tour events. It feels good to run well right off the bat.” Makhija is no stranger to televised final tables. Just a few weeks ago, his fifth place finish in Event #1 of the 2008 World Series of Poker was beamed into homes around the United States on ESPN. He noted, “I didn’t even notice [the cameras] at the time. You’re in the zone.” Makhija is an accomplished online poker player who has a win in the PokerStars $100 rebuy as well as a runner up finish in the $200K Guaranteed on Ultimate Bet. Makhija enters the final table with 3.2 million chips.
John “The Razor” Phan will begin play on Thursday with 2.4 million chips, which is good for second place at the Legends of Poker. Phan is on a heater in the poker world and is fresh off winning two bracelets at the 2008 WSOP. He captured hardware in a $3,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #29) as well as a $2,500 buy-in Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball tournament (Event #40). His career WSOP earnings top $1.3 million. He was born in Vietnam and currently resides in California.
Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark is third in chips at the Legends of Poker, holding a stack of just over 2 million. Clark won the Main Event of the fifth Full Tilt Online Poker Series for $395,000. He’s also made the final table of the PokerStars Sunday Million. In live tournament play, Clark has six WSOP cashes for a grand total of $127,376.
Kyle Wilson is a high-stakes cash game player who predominantly plays online. He’s also made the transition into tournament poker, telling Leatherman in an interview on Wednesday, “I’ve spent a few years on the WPT trail. I finally made a final table.” He was railed most of the day by Greg Mueller. Wilson commented, “We’re two great poker minds and like to talk about hands. Two heads are better than one.” Wilson has 1.4 million chips, which is the fourth largest stack out of the six remaining players.
Paul Wilson is fifth in chips entering the final table, holding a stack of 1.1 million, just ahead of Trong Nguyen, who is the short-stack at the table with 980,000 chips. Play will begin at 4:00pm PT from The Bike. WPT Hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will be on-hand calling the action. When play resumes, the blinds will be at 30,000-60,000 with a 5,000 chip ante. We’ll have a full report on the winner of the 2008 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker event on Poker News Daily.
