We’re in the home stretch in the 2008 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker event. The third tournament that will air on Fox Sports Net as part of Season VII of the WPT, the Legends of Poker has played down to its final 27 players. The chip leader is Paul Smith, who sits with a 946,000 chip stack, more than twice the average in the room. Others who made the final 27 include Allen Cunningham, Marco Johnson, John Phan, Adam Weinraub, and Maria Ho.
The story of the day was Weinraub, who was the chip leader after play on Day 1A and Day 2. He was far ahead on the competition on Day 3, but found himself on the short end of several big hands. Weinrab ran into a set over set situation, holding pocket fours on a board of 9-K-4-7; his opponent held pocket sevens. He also ran into quad tens holding kings full. He commented after that hand, “The good news is that it can’t get any worse for me.” In an interview held after the final cards were dealt on Day 3, he told WPT staff, “It went from a good second day to almost doing a Scotty Nguyen impersonation. I think I played well, so that’s all I can do.” The champion of the WPT Celebrity Invitational during Season V, Weinraub has 161,000 chips, which is good for 24th out of the 27 remaining players.
Smith’s pocket kings ran into pocket aces during play on Day 3. However, as luck would have it, a king hit the river, propelling Smith to the chip lead. Smith spoke with WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman about his nightly commute home from the Legends of Poker to his home in San Diego: “It’s an hour and a half each way and is a pretty easy drive. It’s worth it to get to spend time with family, sleep in my own bed, and get a good night’s sleep.” Play starts daily at 2:15pm PT, which means Smith can avoid any rush hour traffic jams on his daily commute up California’s coast.
Amit Makhija is second overall in chips headed into Day 4 at the Legends of Poker. An online poker player, Makhija has turned his success in front of the computer into success in the live poker world. He took fifth in the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 World Series of Poker (Event #1), winning nearly $200,000. Makhija holds 842,000 chips, just ahead of poker pro Layne Flack, who sits with 807,000. Flack is one of the most accomplished players left in the Legends of Poker field. He holds six WSOP bracelets and has earned well over $2 million from his WSOP play. His most recent bracelet win came in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy tournament in this year’s WSOP (Event #34). He cashed for $577,725 in that tournament and defeated Daniel Makowsky heads up.
Also in the hunt for the $1.1 million first place prize in Los Angeles is Allen Cunningham. The Full Tilt Poker pro is a five-time WSOP bracelet winner whose most memorable payday came when finishing fourth in the 2006 Main Event. He was Norman Chad’s favorite personality during that tournament’s final table and walked away with $3.7 million. The eventual winner, Jamie Gold, defeated Paul Wasicka heads up to take home $12 million. Cunningham has made two final tables in his World Poker Tour Career: the Euro Finals of Poker during Season I and Foxwoods World Poker Finals during Season IV. His career WPT earnings are nearly $800,000.
Here are the chip stacks and seating assignments for the 27 players who remain in contention in the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker:
Table 11
Paul Smith – 946,000
Matt Keikoan – 744,000
Denny Lee – 481,000
Takashi Shiono – 461,000
Trong Nguyen – 457,000
Zachary Clark – 388,000
Jinyun Lin – 363,000
Adam Weinraub – 161,000
Ben Fineman – 159,000
Table 12
Amit Makhija – 842,000
Layne Flack – 807,000
Ron Jenkins – 740,000
Kirk Conrad – 416,000
Philip Stark – 307,000
Allen Cunningham – 420,000
Tan Le – 294,000
Samuel Ngai – 220,000
Gary Najaryan – 211,000
Table 13
Lee Markholt – 779,000
Kyle Wilson – 619,000
Marco Johnson – 310,000
John Phan – 244,000
Rodeen Talebi – 230,000
Jim Hof – 201,000
Sirious Baghchehsaraie – 176,000
Maria Ho – 158,000
Raymond Voskanian – 16,000
Play begins at 2:15pm PT today for Day 4 and the tournament will run until the final six remain. The final table begins at 4:00pm PT on Thursday.
