After 15 grueling hours of play in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star event, the field was whittled from 27 players to six. Among those competing for the $878,000 first place prize is UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth.
Hellmuth has made three final tables on the WPT circuit. He finished fourth in the Gold Rush event during Season 1 for $34,000 and took third at Foxwoods during Season 2 for $281,000. Hellmuth returned to the WPT spotlight during Season 6, when he made the feature table of the L.A. Poker Classic, finishing sixth for $229,000. All told, the 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner has $836,000 in career WPT earnings; he’s poised to double that total if he wins at Bay 101.
Hellmuth told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque, “The guy on my left, Andy, is a very good player. I’ve had a read on him for two straight days, so that’s been helpful, but he still has the chip lead. If I can get a read on him tomorrow, I have a good chance to win.” On what it would mean to take down his first WPT title in four tries, Hellmuth remarked, “It would mean a lot. I really want to win. It’s what I do. I’ve been working really hard.” Hellmuth alludes to online poker legend Andy “BKiCe” Seth, the Bay 101 Shooting Star’s final table chip leader.
At one point during play on Thursday, Lon Diamond was down to just 17,000 in chips before mounting the comeback of a lifetime. With a stack equivalent to one big blind when play wrapped up on Thursday, Diamond tripled up and then doubled twice more to stay alive. Ultimately, Diamond was the final table bubble boy at Bay 101, finishing in seventh place for $58,000. Diamond called all-in pre-flop with A-Q, but ran into the pocket queens of Seth. The board came 10-9-6-6-8 and the six-handed final table was determined.
Former WSOP Main Event winner Scotty Nguyen hit the rails in eighth place for the same $58,000, baby. Nguyen shoved pre-flop under-the-gun with J-8 of hearts and ran into Seth’s K-Q. The flop came queen-high, keeping Seth out in front, and no help came for the five-time bracelet winner on the turn or river. Nguyen has made a colossal eight WPT final tables, emerging as the champ once.
Poker fans will also recognize Hasan Habib, who owns the second shortest stack entering the Bay 101 final table. Habib finished second in the WPT Championship during Season 2 for $1.3 million and promptly took third the following season for another $896,000. Making his first WPT final table is Matt Keikoan, who took seventh in last season’s Legends of Poker for $140,000.
To go from 11-handed to 10-handed action took five hours. Here are the six players remaining in the 2010 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event:
1. Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 2,164,000
2. Phil Hellmuth – 1,433,000
3. Dan O’Brien – 1,129,000
4. Mclean Karr – 1,112,000
5. Hasan Habib – 455,000
6. Matt Keikoan – 371,000
When play resumes in San Jose, California, the blinds will be 8,000-16,000 with an ante of 2,000. Nearly two hours will be played at this level before the price of poker increases. Players who found the exit on Thursday were:
7. Lon Diamond – $58,600
8. Scotty Nguyen – $58,600
9. Brian “tsarrast” Rast – $38,000
10. David Forster – $38,000
11. “Miami” John Cernuto – $29,300
12. Dan Gamon – $29,300
13. Nick Schulman – $23,400
14. Chau Giang – $23,400
15. Joseph “BigEgypt” Elpayaa – $23,400
16. Tim McDermott – $23,400
17. Lars Elmoe – $23,400
18. Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka – $23,400
19. Vanna Tea – $20,500
20. John Monnette – $20,500
21. Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo – $20,500
22. Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little – $20,500
23. Taylor Raines – $20,500
24. Tom Marchese – $20,500
25. Thuy Phan – $17,600
26. Ted Jivkov – $17,600
27. Kafir Nahum – $17,600
Each of the six players remaining is assured a payday of $117,000, twice what the tournament’s seventh and eighth place finishers received. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT results.