Wang, Plante chasing Baron Ha at WPT Playground final table

Monday saw 53 hopeful players return to Day 3 of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Playground Championship. Play lasted 13 hours to cut the field down to the final table of six with Baron Ha leading the field after bagging 11.625 million.

“I’m going to the spa, have a nice dinner, eat some sushi, and relax,” Ha said about having the next day off. “I’m just going to take it easy and refresh.”

“I’ve been chasing this for a long time,” he continued. “I’ve waited for this spot for 20 years.”

Filling out the table is Jordan Grant (9.2 m), Michael Wang (7.625 m), Zachary Fisher (5.675 m), Santiago Plante (4.7 m) and Amirpasha Emami (3.1 m).

Wang has the most WPT experience with 24 cashes and he bubbled the final table of the 2016 Legends of Poker event. Plante has eight WPT cashes, Ha has two WPT cashes to his credit, - as does Grant and  Emami. Fisher locked up his first WPT cash.

Final table action

We spoke to Plante earlier today and he’s probably going to be in action on Tuesday. Wang is on the final leg of a worldwide tour that saw him play as far as Australia and Taipei before heading back to North America.

Santiago Plante gets enjoy another night in his bed before playing for big money.

ALICIA SKILLMAN

When the field was at eight players, action stalled and they played three hours without an elimination. Then, as they usually do, two bust outs came in short order. A short-stacked Georgees Zero moved in with pocket threes, Grant called holding and made trip aces.

Then ten minutes later Antoine Sankari looked good to double up against Wang with against Wang’s . But the river delivered a king to end Sankari’s tournament and Day 3 for the field.

Trimming the field

Ari Shin missed out on the unofficial final table when he busted in 10^th place. He was down to 12 big blinds, shipped them holding pocket fives and Jordan Grant called with . The board gave Grant trip queens and Shin hit the rail as the field redrew to one table.

Duff Charette (48^th), Oleg Boulchyi (45^th), Zak VanKeuren (43^rd), Michael Kahn (35^th) and Darren Elias (31^st) were eliminated in early action. Senthuran Vijayaratnam (26^th), Adam Cader (15^th), and Azim Popatia (13^th) each made deep runs.

Elias missed out on a chance to win a fifth WPT title in a nasty three-way pot where he was the favorite with pocket kings. Cader was all in for less with pocket nines and Bradley Ellis called holding . Ellis spiked an ace, Cader was out and Elias was left with two big blinds.

Darren Elias will have to wait for #5.

Alicia Skillman

Elias doubled up once holding seven-deuce against queens but then ran out of steam when he called off with when Ellis shoved on Elias’ open with pocket eights. Elias didn’t improve and was eliminated.

Play began with 60-minute levels and after a level and a half, the field was trimmed to 40 players and levels increased to 90 minutes.

The players have an off day on Tuesday and the final table resumes action at 11:00 am on Wednesday, where they’ll play down to a winner.

^{All photos courtesy of the World Poker Tour - Alicia Skillman}