We're deep into the Last Chance series at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, and Neil Warren has all but locked up a seat in the $1 million Championship Freeroll with a win in Event #4 on Friday.
Warren topped a field of 126 to win $315,000 and 315 PGT points. That puts him just outside the top 40 on the main PGT leaderboard – but crucially, at the top of the Last Chance leaderboard, where the top five earn seats in Monday’s big-money freeroll.
He started the final table as one of the smaller stacks – Landon Tice was Day 2 chip leader, with Sergio Aido tucked in behind – but Warren got off to a fast start, eliminating Matthew Wantman in a blind vs. blind battle. Wantman shoved from the small blind with pocket threes, but Warren woke up with queens in the big.
Warren eliminated everyone else at the final table, starting with Aido in fourth when his pocket eights flopped a set to best Aido's 
. He needed it as Aido turned a now irrelevant nine.
Tice was his next victim in another blind vs. blind battle. Tice had 
in the small blind and by far the best of it. When the money went in, Warren flipped 
but found a nine on the 
runout.
Stacks were pretty even to start heads-up, but Warren turned a straight to take a big lead and ended it with a cooler for David Coleman.
Coleman limped with 
and Warren checked with 
. Both players made trips on the 
flop and Warren turned a full house with the . Coleman moved all in on the river, and Warren snap-called, showing his full house. “Good game,” he said, before Coleman could even table his hand.
Last Chance #4 results
- Neil Warren: $315,000 (315 points)
- David Coleman: $195,300 (195 points)
- Landon Tice: $138,600 (139 points)
- Sergio Aido: $107,100 (107 points)
- Chino Rheem: $75,600 (76 points)
- Jim Collopy: $63,000 (63 points)
- Matthew Wantman: $50,400 (50 points)
Kristen Foxen final tables Event #5
Meanwhile, Day 1 of Last Chance #5 is nearing the end, with just one more event to play out over the weekend before the $1 million Championship Freeroll starts on Monday.
Phil Hellmuth is now sixth on the Last Chance leaderboard, just outside the qualifying spots, but there's still hope for him – even after he busted Event #5 in 17th. Hellmuth picked up another 18 points, but that won't be enough to take him into the top five, with David 'ODB' Baker leading into the final day.
However, both Brandon Wilson and Warren would move into the top 40 of the PGT leaderboard with another cash. That didn’t happen in Event #5, setting up a dramatic finale in Event #6.
Kristen Foxen ended the day with the third-biggest chip stack.
Last Chance Event #5 final table stacks
- David 'ODB' Baker: 3,825,000
- Chino Rheem: 3,425,000
- Kristen Foxen: 2,775,000
- Connor Rash: 1,700,000
- Matthew McEwan: 1,400,000
- Chi-Jen Chu: 775,000
- Nick Seward: 725,000
Play restarts on Saturday at 12pm PT. Last Chance #6 is a one-day turbo that also plays out on Saturday, with the $1 million Championship Freeroll starting on Monday.
Last Chance leaderboard (top 5 qualify)
- Neil Warren: 315
- Clemen Deng: 310
- Brandon Wilson: 297
- Jeremy Becker: 193
- David 'ODB' Baker: 174
- Phil Hellmuth: 168
- Jared Jaffee: 140
