The World Poker Tour (WPT) has burst its money bubble. The $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship attracted 2,960 players at Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas. They created a $29,008,000 prize pool that was shared among the leading 371 finalists. But, only 370 players cashed as two consecutive eliminations occurred in the hand-for-hand action's final deal.
Action on Day 3
The 370th position $17,400 prize was shared by Tony Dunst (WPT commentator and winner) and Yi Klassen. Day 3's action started with 399 players left thus delaying the bubble to the day's first level. But, Sohen Porbandarwala got a huge pot that earned him the chip lead a few minutes before an open-ended straight draw outrun Dunst's top pair.
Freddy Deeb's pocket tens cracked Klassen's pocket aces. Porbandarwala used ADiamond Suit5Spade Suit to make an early position raise and Edmund used AHeart SuitKHeart Suit to make a middle position call. A player in the big blind used 7Heart Suit4Spade Suit2Diamond Suit to drop the flop.
Porbandarwala wagered and prompted Chan to call. But, the former checked after a 3Heart Suit turn. Chan wagered 80,000 using a nut flush draw.
Still, Porbandarwala made a 280,000 check-raise and Chan opted for an 830,000 shove. The former called using a turned straight as the river revealed the 9Diamond Suit earning him a hand that he used to send Chan packing before the bubble.
Porbandarwala stated in an interview after the tournament that it was a huge pot and he thought he was making a simple bubble move. Even so, he got nuts that favored him.
The poker pro had 6,300,000 chips late in Day 3 and was third among the 128 entrants who advanced to Day 4. He trailed behind Lucas Foster and Benny Glaser who had 7,095,000 and 7,565,000 chips respectively.
Benny Glaser Leads
Glaser won four bracelets in the past and has almost $3.7 million in live poker tournament earnings. He is determined to improve his previous 11th-place finish in the 2022 WPT Online Championship. Other talented players who advanced to Day 4 were David "ODB" Baker (two-time bracelet champion), Frank Funaro (bracelet champion), Frank Lagodich (WSOP Circuit Main Event champion), Pat Lyons (WPT and bracelet champion), Asher Conniff (WPT champion), Andriy Lyubovetskiy (two-time bracelet champion), Daniel Negreanu (six-time bracelet champion) and Igor Kurganov (bracelet champion).
WPT player Tony Dunst exited the tournament early. But, two other ambassadors are still in action including Lynn Gilmartin and Brad Owen. Gilmartin ended the night holding 650,000 chips and Owen had 2,085,000 chips.
Many poker pros got busted shortly after Dunst's elimination including Chris Brewer, Ben Yu (four-time bracelet champion), Kathy Liebert (bracelet champion), Steve Zolotow (two-time bracelet champion), Andrew Neeme ( WPT ambassador), Espen Jorstad ( WSOP main event winner), Ryan Leng ( three-time bracelet champion), Dan Smith(WPT and bracelet champion), John Monnette (four-time bracelet champion), Upeshka De Silva (three-time bracelet champion), Eric Baldwin ( two-time bracelet champion) Adam Hendrix, Taylor von Kriegenbergh(WPT winner), Jeremy Ausmus (five-time bracelet champion) and Freddy Deeb ( two-time bracelet and WPT champion).
Day 4 was scheduled to kick off on December 17 at noon and it would feature six 90-minute levels and a dinner break after the fourth level. Each of the remaining players would take home at least $29,450.
