Just 10 players remain in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, which is entering Day 6. On Friday, the field will be narrowed down to the final six, who will return on Saturday to play in front of a live studio audience. The tournament will air as the finale of Season VII on Fox Sports Net. Of the 10 remaining players, half are PocketFivers. Therefore, the online poker community is guaranteed to have at least one representative at the final table. PocketFivesLive.com, which provides WPT coverage of online poker players, has been on site covering the action.
Heading into play on Thursday, Christian charder Harder and Yevgeniy atimos Timoshenko (pictured at left) sat with the second and third largest chip stacks, respectively. Now, the two have flopped positions, but still sit near the top of the pack. Timoshenko holds 5.1 million chips, trailing only the 5.9 million of Scotty Nguyen. The youngster closed out play on Thursday by eliminating Full Tilt Poker pro Jennifer Harman in 11th place. Harman was all-in pre-flop holding pocket aces; Timoshenko held the “Doyle Brunson,” 10-2. Timoshenko flopped a deuce and turned a 10, giving the PocketFiver two pair and the win in the hand. Timoshenko also busted Andrew Lichtenberger in 13th place when the PocketFiver’s A-7 held against Q-J.PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has been camped out in the famed Las Vegas casino following the WPT Championship, commented on Timoshenko’s end of day run: "Patience and good timing are paying off for Yevgeniy. He got hot at the right time late in the day and was able to bust two players while building a large stack. He’s positioned himself solidly for the play down day and final table." Timoshenko is a former winner of the Asian Poker Tour’s Macau event.
Sitting with the third largest chip stack is Harder (pictured at right). He’ll have 4.6 million chips when play resumes. He picked up a sizable pot by eliminating Ross Boatman in 15th place. Boatman pushed pre-flop with A-K and found himself racing against Harder’s pocket jacks. The board ran out 10-8-6-4-9 and Harder’s pocket pair held. The PocketFiver was also the executioner of Eric Liu. He opened for a hefty bet of 10 times the big blind and Liu pushed over the top. Harder called and flipped over J-10, only to see he was dominated by Liu’s K-10. The flop came 10-high, keeping Liu in the lead, but a jack fell on the turn, pushing Harder’s chip stack to 3.4 million.
Holding the fifth largest chip stack when play resumes is Shannon ShannonShorr Shorr (pictured at left). He was the bane of Andy Miller’s existence early on, taking down a large pot with kings against Miller’s A-Q to double up. Then, the PocketFiver polished him off holding A-J of diamonds against Miller’s 10-2 of diamonds. The pair of hands sent Shorr’s chip stack to 2.5 million; he ended the day with 3.1 million. On Shorr’s play, Harrington commented, "Shannon is in the midst of an amazing comeback story. When a great player like Shannon catches a few breaks, it can turn into something big - like a WPT Championship final table or title."
PocketFivers who were eliminated during the day on Thursday included Blake Balla-B13 Cahail (pictured at right), who finished in 16th place for $65,370. Cahail ran A-9 into Timoshenko’s A-K. The two were all-in pre-flop and the board ran out K-3-2-8-4. Finishing right behind Cahail was Owen ocrowe Crowe, who shoved on a flop of 9-3-3 against Justin Young. Crowe, who had limped pre-flop, showed pocket aces, while Young turned over 7-3 for trips; he also took home $65,370 for his efforts. Marco CrazyMarco Johnson’s A-K could not hold up against Young’s A-Q and he finished in 20th place for the same amount. A queen fell on the turn, giving Young a considerable amount of momentum for a final table run.Here are the final 10 remaining in the WPT Championship. Play wrapped up on Thursday with blinds of 30,000-60,000 with a 5,000 chip ante:
1. Scotty Nguyen - 5,880,000
2. Yevgeniy atimos Timoshenko - 5,105,000
3. Christian charder Harder - 4,650,000
4. Justin Young - 4,220,000
5. Shannon ShannonShorr Shorr - 3,155,000
6. Brian tsarrast Rast - 3,025,000
7. Eugene Katchalov - 2,385,000
8. Bertrand ElkY Grospellier - 1,965,000
9. Ran Azor - 1,810,000
10. Bruno Fitoussi - 1,615,000
Each player is guaranteed to pocket at least $98,000:
1st Place: $2,149,960
2nd Place: $1,446,265
3rd Place: $776,245
4th Place: $571,965
5th Place: $408,550
6th Place: $285,985
7th Place: $204,275
8th Place: $163,420
9th Place: $130,735
10th Place: $98,050
Visit PocketFivesLive.com on Friday for the play down day at the Bellagio.
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