The World Poker Tour is back down in Hollywood, Florida, as poker players took to the felts after Thanksgiving for the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open. The Main Event is already nearing its end as just 14 players remain from the original field of 898 entries. James Rann is the chip leader after Day 3 with 5.815 million chips.
There were two starting flights for the Main Event, which surprisingly ended up fairly even in turnout: 417 entries for Day 1A and 481 for Day 1B. No, that’s not exactly even, but normally the second flight is a lot larger than the first. The total field of 898 is a record for this event, though that’s not 898 “players,” as competitors were permitted unlimited re-entries. 113 players are making the money with a min-cash of $5,845 and a first place prize of just over half a million dollars.
Rann, who hails from London, has nearly $760,000 in live tournament earnings, not counting what he is about to make for the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (he and everyone else remaining are guaranteed at least $31,550). He actually has a fairly long list of tournament cashes, though most are for small amounts, at least in terms of poker winnings. His one victory, for example, was for just $3,400.
Rann’s most sizeable cash by far came in 2015, when he finished fourth in the Aussie Millions Main event for $339,759.
Rann entered Day 3’s action with 1.040 million chips, which, while not even the largest stack at his table, was still comfortably among the chip leaders with 52 players remaining.
He used big hands to grow his stack, knocking one opponent out in 35th place and another in 26th place to get up to 2.430 million chips. He eliminated the 25th place finisher, as well, advancing his stack to 3.250 million.
Rann also did some work toward the end of Day 3. In one of the more significant hands of the day, he raised pre-flop to 85,000 with pocket Jacks, only to see Marty Mathis shove for 585,000. Phi Hui then made a massive move, putting all of his 1.645 million chips into the pot. Rann made the call, putting both of his opponents’ tournament lives on the line.
Mathis had pocket Eights and Hui had just A-Q (I guess he was trying to isolate Mathis?). The board only helped Rann, who hit a set on the river, and Hui and Mathis were out in 17th and 18th place, respectively.
Rann also eliminated Kunal Patel in 16th place to increase his stack to just below its ending point.
Day 4 will begin at noon ET and should be fairly short, as the plan is to play down to the six-handed final table.
World Poker Tour Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event – Day 3 Chip Counts
1. James Rann – 5,815,000
2. James Gilbert – 5,240,000
3. Alan Schein – 4,135,000
4. Pavel Plesuv – 3,760,000
5. Jeremy Joseph – 3,515,000
6. Marius Gierse – 3,455,000
7. Christopher Kennedy – 2,000,000
8. Roberto Bendeck – 1,590,000
9. Brent Kallman – 1,530,000
10. John DuBois – 1,130,000
11. Ravi Raghavan – 1,095,000
12. Jeff Yarchever – 965,000
13. Tom Burandt – 850,000
14. Brett Apter – 835,000
