Twenty-seven players remain in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship. Jared Jaffee leads the way entering the play down day on Tuesday, with Tyler Smith hot on his heels.
Smith made the final table of last year’s Southern Poker Championship, which featured Allen “AawwNutz” Carter coming out on top. Smith finished fifth and earned $134,000, the first and only WPT cash of his career. Smith told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman following Monday’s action, “I started the day with 90,000 and early, I got crushed. The first level, I dropped down to 45,000 and then I won a race with nines against A-10, which doubled me up to 100,000. Right after that, I pulled off a full house and got action from four people, so that catapulted me to 230,000.”
Smith amassed a healthy stack at the expense of WPT Season 6 Player of the Year Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little. Smith was all-in pre-flop with A-K against Little’s A-Q. The board ran out K-K-Q-2-J and Smith’s trip kings were good enough to scoop the pot. The hand pushed Smith to 365,000 chips and he ended the day with 462,500, trailing only Jaffee’s 546,000.
Jaffee sent Team PokerStars Pro member Chad Brown to the rails after his pocket aces withstood Brown’s pocket eights. The board came K-J-5-7-K and the better pocket pair held to take down the pot. The hand propelled Jaffee to 463,000 in chips; he piled on another 80,000 before the day was through. Jaffee sent an opponent with pocket kings to the rail holding pocket aces. He spiked a one-outer on the river for the win after Tommy Vedes claimed that he mucked A-5 pre-flop.
The money bubble will burst today, as the top 18 players will walk away with cash. Among those vying for the $739,000 top prize is Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo, who is fresh off a fifth place showing in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. D’Angelo sent Keith Lehr to the rails after Lehr called all-in on a board of 10-3-2-K-Q with four hearts. D’Angelo flipped up the ace of hearts for the nut flush, while Lehr mucked. D’Angelo owns a stack of 304,500 entering Tuesday’s play, good for eighth in the WPT Southern Poker Championship.
Crowd favorite Daniel Negreanu was once again involved in an unorthodox hand. In it, he pushed pre-flop, was called by the original raiser in the hand, and Justin “Boosted J” Smith shoved over the top. The original raiser promptly pulled out a phone to crunch the numbers before being stopped by tournament officials. He ultimately called, putting Negreanu at risk with A-10 of diamonds against A-K of clubs and pocket queens. The board ran out five cards eight or lower and Negreanu hit the exit.
Who remains in the hunt, you ask? Here are the chip counts after two days of play, according to the official website of the WPT:
1. Jared Jaffee – 546,000
2. Tyler Smith – 462,500
3. Jonathan Kantor – 412,500
4. Corwin “mig.com” Mackey – 380,000
5. Tommy Vedes – 336,500
6. Sam Rashid – 319,500
7. Shawn Quillin – 307,000
8. Ryan “g0lfa” D’Angelo – 304,500
9. Justin “Boosted J” Smith – 280,000
10. Hoyt Corkins – 276,000
11. Dwyte Pilgrim – 246,000
12. Ken Harbaugh – 244,000
13. James Reed – 221,500
14. Dan O’Brien – 205,500
15. Jerry Vanstrydonck – 202,500
16. Vitor Coelho – 201,000
17. Ayaz Mahmood – 199,000
18. Narinder Khasria – 190,000
19. Seamus Cahill – 171,000
20. Kathy Liebert – 123,500
21. James Guinther – 123,000
22. Andy Philachack – 120,000
23. James Blackmon – 95,500
24. J.J. Liu – 93,000
25. Benjamin Tollerene – 86,500
26. Ken Perry – 70,500
27. Brian “SNo0oWMAN” Hawkins – 70,000
When play concluded on Monday, the blinds were at 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante. The cards hit the air on Tuesday at 2:00pm CT from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
