A brief hour and a half of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup V occurred on Saturday. In the end, the six-handed final table was determined. Online poker pro Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who holds a stack of five million chips, leads the way.
Pavel Reshetov was the first elimination of Saturday’s play in the Bellagio Cup V under rather bizarre circumstances. The king of spades dealt to Ray Taylor was exposed during the deal and Taylor, thinking it was a misdeal, turned over his lone hole card, the queen of diamonds. The latter card remained in his hand, allegedly seen by two other players, while the king of spades was replaced. The flop came K-6-4, leading WPT coverage to note, “Before anyone can act, one of the players calls foul, claiming that a few players at the table have seen one of Taylor’s cards, but nobody else has – creating an unfair advantage.” Taylor then revealed his queen of diamonds for the entire table to see and the hand continued.
On the K-6-4 flop, Reshetov pushed all-in over the top of a raise by new Doyle’s Room pro Alec “traheho” Torelli holding K-3. Torelli called and flipped up K-7 for top pair with a better kicker. The turn and river both came aces, giving Torelli the pot and sending Reshetov to the rails in an ominous first elimination of the afternoon at the Bellagio. Reshetov received $46,000 for his efforts and Torelli’s stack was boosted to 2.6 million.
As if play couldn’t get any stranger, Jaka busted two players on the same hand holding just A-9 of clubs. Taylor held pocket kings, while Sam Stein found himself all-in with Q-9; Jaka had both covered. The flop fell 10-6-2 with two clubs, giving Jaka a flush draw and keeping Taylor out in front with pocket kings. The turn was a jack, giving Stein an open-ended straight draw. The river was the five of clubs, improving Jaka to a flush and sending both Taylor and Stein to the rails in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Stein picked up $61,000 for his troubles, while Taylor earned $87,000.
Mimi Tran was sent packing on the final table bubble in seventh place, earning $125,000. Tran, the lone female remaining in the fifth Bellagio Cup, was all-in holding pocket jacks against Jaka’s A-Q for a race situation. The flop came queen-high, giving Jaka a pair of queens, and an ace on the turn improved the chip leader to two pair. The river was a 10, setting up Sunday’s six-handed final table that will air as part of Season VIII of the WPT on Fox Sports Net. Here’s how the field looks:
1. Faraz Jaka – 5,041,000
2. Justin Smith – 2,992,000
3. Alec Torelli – 2,623,000
4. Erik Seidel – 2,170,000
5. Christopher Sonesson – 1,671,000
6. Alexandre Gomes – 1,586,000
Blinds will be 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 chip ante when play resumes at 4:00pm PT from the Las Vegas casino. Every player owns at least 66 big blinds, setting up a deep-stacked final day of play. Poker pro Erik Seidel, who is perhaps the most well-known player left in the field, told WPT officials that the group of six represents “the toughest final table the WPT’s ever had.” The $15,000 buy-in tournament’s winner will take home $1.1 million and each player remaining is assured at least a $164,000 payday.
Seidel owns eight World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, good for fifth all-time. He trails only Phil Hellmuth (11 bracelets), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), and Johnny Moss (9) in that category. Seidel’s 57 WSOP in the money finishes are tied for fourth all-time with Berry Johnston and the Full Tilt Poker pro won the Season VI WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic for $992,000.
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