Brian Altman was at the top of the leaderboard for days and now with just one day left in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open, he is the chip leader going into the six-handed final table. It is a two-man race at the moment, as Altman has 10.400 million chips, but is a virtual tie with Day 3 leader John Dollinger, who has 10.275 million.
It is a steep drop from Altman and Dollinger to the other four players heading into Wednesday’s final table action. The third place player, Nadeem Hirani, has less than half of what either of the leaders do, holding 5.000 million chips. Nadya Magnus is next with 4.000 million (these numbers are nice and easy), followed by Chanracy Khun with 3.150 million. Peter Walsworth is the short stack with just 900,000. Someone has to be the short stack, though (well, I guess not technically, as they could all be tied).
Altman won this very tournament in 2015, the only WPT title of his career. After emerging as the chip leader at the end of Day 2, he told WPT.com it would be “amazing” to win the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open again.
“I don’t think anyone has won the same tournament twice, so that would be really special. If it happens that’s great, but right now I’m just taking it one hand at a time,” he said.”
After Tuesday’s activity, he added that while he is certainly thinking about what it would be like to win, “There’s no reason to put extra pressure on myself.”
“The tournament has gone really smoothly for me,” Altman admitted. “I’ve been running really well, getting good cards and good table draws, and things have kind of just been going my way.”
As often happens, the chip leader reached his position at the end of the night, a hand after giving Dollinger well over a million chips. On the final hand of Day 4, Altman raised pre-flop to 175,000 and Scott Drobes moved all-in for 1.900 million. Altman called with Queens, while Drobes had A-J. Drobes picked up a gut-shot straight draw on the flop, but that was it and he was eliminated on the final table bubble.
All six players remaining in the tournament are guaranteed just shy of $100,000, with the actual six-figure sums starting at fifth place. First place prize money is $482,636. Most of the players have significant earnings on the live tournament circuit, well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, at a minimum. The one who is in completely new territory is Hirani, with just $6,411 in live earnings to his name.
The final table will begin at 2:00pm ET and will be streamed on the WPT.com YouTube channel on a half-hour delay.
2020 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open – Final Table Chip Counts
- Brian Altman – 10,400,000
- John Dollinger – 10,275,000
- Nadeem Hirani – 5,000,000
- Nadya Magnus – 4,000,000
- Chanracy Khun – 3,150,000
- Peter Walsworth – 900,000