The final table of the $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #20) as part of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) will play out today inside the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Among those still in contention is Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel.
Seidel has eight WSOP bracelets to his name, good for fifth all-time. Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth holds the record for most number of bracelets won with 11. The man Hellmuth beat in the 1989 WSOP Main Event, Johnny Chan, is tied with Doyle Brunson for the second most number of bracelets with 10. Behind Brunson and Chan is the late Johnny Moss, who earned nine bracelets in just 25 WSOP in the money finishes. Seidel’s last bracelet win came in 2007 in the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball with Rebuys. He earned $538,000 for his efforts two years ago and defeated Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown heads-up in a final table that also included Shawn Sheikhan, Andy Black, Freddy Deeb, and Todd Brunson.
Seidel holds the third largest stack in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event, which will award $194,000 to its winner. John-Paul Kelly paces the field with a stack of 627,000. Kelly made the final table and finished ninth in a $2,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event last year for $22,000. Behind Kelly is Jason DeWitt, a Granger, Indiana native who finished sixth in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout during the 2006 WSOP for $38,000, a tournament ultimately won by David “The Dragon” Pham. DeWitt owns a stack of 476,000 entering Thursday’s final table.
The fourth place chip stack belongs to Kyle Carlston, who made a deep run in last year’s Main Event and finished 154th for $41,000. Holding the fifth place stack of 268,000 is Marc Tschirch. Like Carlston, Tschirch also turned in an impressive performance during last year’s feature tournament, banking $28,000 for his 363rd place showing. A total of 6,844 players coughed up the $10,000 buy-in last year. The 2008 Main Event featured the first ever delayed final table, which played out in November in order to coincide with television coverage on ESPN.
Andrew Radel holds the sixth largest chip stack in Event #20 with 250,000, barely edging out Kirk Steward, who sits in seventh place with 231,000. Neither Radel nor Steward has a WSOP cash to their name and will be making their first ever in the money finish in poker’s most prestigious tournament series. In eighth place entering the final day of play is Aaron Virchis, who holds 191,000 chips. Virchis has not cashed at the WSOP in five years. Rounding out the final table is Ravi Raghavan, who took seventh in the WSOP Circuit Event Championship at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana last October for $31,000.
Here are the chip counts entering the final table, which kicks off today at 2:00pm PT:
1. John-Paul Kelly – 627,000
2. Jason DeWitt – 476,000
3. Erik Seidel – 337,000
4. Kyle Carlston – 320,000
5. Marc Tschirch – 268,000
6. Andrew Radel – 250,000
7. Kirk Steward – 231,000
8. Aaron Virchis – 191,000
9. Ravi Raghavan – 145,000
The honor of final table bubble boy went to online poker pro Phil “USCPhildo” Collins, who pushed all-in over the top of a raise by Seidel pre-flop holding A-J of clubs. Seidel called and turned over A-K. The flop came 3-5-9, preserving Seidel’s lead in the hand, and a king on the turn assured that Collins would hit the exits. He received $13,332 for his efforts. Also hitting the skids late were David “Sir Sands” Sands (11th place for $13,332) and David “The Maven” Chicotsky (14th place for $9,919).
We’ll have complete results from Event #20 of the 2009 WSOP, a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em tournament, right here on Poker News Daily.
