In a marathon session of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship, the field of ten players that began the day was shrunk to six. Making the final table and owning the third largest stack is PocketFives.com veteran and UB.compro Eric basebaldyBaldwin (pictured at right). The former baseball player will come armed to final table play on Saturday with 4.49 million chips. The group of six trails Full Tilt Pokerpro and high-stakes cash game whiz David Benyamine, who owns a stack of 4.71 million. Let’s take a look at the day that was in the WPT Championship from the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Baldwin will make his debut at a WPT final table, but he has rock solid credentials. He was the 2009 CardPlayer Player of the Year and won his first bracelet in June in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event during the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). He nearly scored his second bracelet one week later, but finished third in the $10,000 World Championship of Pot Limit Hold’em. The two cashes combined for nearly $800,000.
The first elimination on Friday in the 2010 WPT Championship went to online poker veteran Cliff JohnnyBaxJosephy. On the 11th hand dealt, Bodogpro David Williams (pictured at left) pushed all-in with pocket nines on a flop of 9-8-6 with two clubs for top set. Despite holding a premium hand, Josephy was crushed, as Williams turned over 10-7 of clubs for the nuts. A five on the river missed Josephy, but the six of clubs on the river sealed his exit. Despite giving Josephy a boat, the card also gave Williams a ten-high straight flush. Josephy’s tenth place finish was worth $56,000.

Nikolay Evdakov was the next casualty, departing in ninth place. He was all-in with Q-2 against both UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and the chip leader entering the day, John O’Shea. The board ran out 8-8-3-A-J with three spades and Hellmuth showed K-4 of spades for a flush. In his first WPT in the money finish, Evdakov walked away with $75,000.

Former WSOP Main Event champion Scotty Nguyen (pictured at right) was sent packing 100 hands later. Nguyen called all-in with a wired pair of eights on a board of J-10-6-8 for a set. However, Benyamine flipped up pocket tens for a set of his own and the better hand held. Nguyen, who final tabled the WPT Championship last year, collected $105,000 this time around. The hand gave Benyamine the ammunition to survive down the stretch in the grueling day of play.

Baldwin doubled up through O’Shea with pocket jacks against pocket tens. Four hands later, Hellmuth laid down A-K face up pre-flop to Baldwin after the PocketFives.com member went all-in. Hellmuth’s stack finally melted away to just two big blinds and, in his final hand, the “Poker Brat” committed his chips with K-10 pre-flop, but ran into Williams’ A-J. After nearly eight hours, play in the WPT Championship came to a close. Here’s how the field stacks up entering the televised final table:

1. David Benyamine – 4,705,000
2. David Williams – 4,700,000
3. Eric basebaldyBaldwin – 4,490,000
4. Billy Baxter – 2,440,000
5. Shawn Buchanan – 1,965,000
6. John O'Shea – 1,200,000

Faraz The-ToiletJaka, who made two final tables during the 2009-2010 season of the WPT, currently leads the Player of the Year race. However, with a win on Saturday, Shawn Buchanan could claim the title. In addition, Buchanan could become the first player to win the WPT Championship and WPT Player of the Year in the same season.

When play resumes, the blinds will be 50,000-100,000 with an ante of 10,000, meaning that O’Shea, the tournament’s short stack, will have just 12 big blinds. Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest WPT coverage of online poker players.