Then there were six.
Many of the world's elite poker players turned out in support of the World Poker Tour Alpha8 for OneDrop at the Wynn/Encore Las Vegas over the last couple of days. Now, only six remain.
With 45 total entries, a grand total of $315,000 was raised for the OneDrop Foundation and the Wynn Foundation. Now, the players look for their paydays.
The final table is set, and the live-streamed action picks up today at 1:00 pm with a planned 30-minute delay for the stream.
It's Jonathan Jaffe who leads the way in this return of the high-roller, Alpha8 series. He holds a commanding chip lead, nearly double that of his closest competitor. Though, his competition is anything but easy, experienced players are in the mix with $273,200 already locked up by all.
WPT Alpha8 final table chip counts
Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
1 | Taylor von Kriegenbergh | 1,280,000 | 32 |
2 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | 2,255,000 | 56 |
3 | Iaron Lightbourne | 1,100,000 | 28 |
4 | Dan Smith | 945,000 | 24 |
5 | Jonathan Jaffe | 4,085,000 | 102 |
6 | Michael Lim | 1,595,000 | 40 |
The grueling bubble yesterday took a few hours. Understandably so, because the min-cash in this tournament was huge.
Isaach Haxton sneaked into the money as the first player paid when he was eliminated yesterday evening in seventh place. He took home $222,600 for his finish.
Dan Smith was eighth in chips when nine players remained. Even though he got a free OneDrop Foundation sweatshirt, it didn't come at the best time.
Still, Smith found a way into the money and has plenty of chips to navigate a deeper run.
New kid on the WPT block Michael Lim has no reported earnings on the tour. This will be a nice first entry on his WPT profile; he's hoping for a payday of over $1.5 million up top.
Final table payouts
Place | Prize |
1 | $1,537,600 |
2 | $1,042,100 |
3 | $701,700 |
4 | $485,200 |
5 | $350,100 |
6 | $273,200 |
Best of luck to all remaining players today. Follow along with live updates on WPT.com, or watch the live stream on their YouTube channel. Also, check out our Instant feed for all Vegas happenings throughout the day.