World Poker Tour World Championship Day 5: Hall Barely Leads Going into Final Table
When Day 5 began at the World Poker Tour World Championship, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion Galen Hall led the final 15 players. After another day of play and nine eliminations, the official televised final table was set with Hall heading the pack. The 5.095 million in chips he’ll take into Day 6 is just a tiny bit ahead of Scott Seiver, who wrapped up with 5.075 million.
Plenty of top players in the game returned for Day 5, including defending champion David Williams, who was looking for a back-to-back performance. Unfortunately for him, those chances ended when he was eliminated in 14th place for $53,095.
Daniel Alaei opened with a raise to 55,000 from under the gun with the blinds at 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 ante. Shannon Shorr made the call from middle position and then Williams reraised all in for his last 153,000. Both Alaei and Shorr made the call.
The three players saw the flop come down A♣9♣5♣ with Williams all in. Both Alaei and Shorr checked to see the 4♠ fall on the turn. Both remaining active players checked again and the 10♣ completed the board on the river. Alaei checked and Shorr bet. Alaei quickly folded and Shorr was left heads up with Williams. Shorr’s Q♣J♦ was good for a queen-high flush and beat Williams’ J♠J♣ for a jack-high flush. With that second-best hand, the defending champion was out the door to clear the way for a new champion. Even without winning, Williams’ back-to-back runs are an amazing feat in such a stacked field of competitors.
Alaei was eliminated in 11th place before the final ten players redrew to one table. Leading the way at that time was former WPT champion Sam El Sayed. He had over 200 big blinds when no one else had over 100. From there, Nenad Medic was eliminated in tenth, Shorr in ninth, El Sayed in eighth and then David Peters in seventh. With the eliminations of El Sayed and Shorr, Andy Frankenberger officially won the WPT Player of the Year.
Peters was the last to go before the official final table was set. He fell at the hands of Seiver. According to the WPT Live Update Team, Peters was all in preflop with 10♥10♠ to Seiver’s K♠Q♥. The board ran out K♦9♦7♦8♣K♥ and Seiver won the pot with trip kings.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galen Hall | 5,095,000 |
| 2 | Justin Young | 1,750,000 |
| 3 | Tony Gargano | 3,550,000 |
| 4 | Roger Teska | 3,600,000 |
| 5 | Scott Seiver | 5,075,000 |
| 6 | Freddy Bonyadi | 2,470,000 |
With an off day on Thursday, the final table will commence on Friday at 1600 PDT (2300 GMT). Be sure to check back to PokerNews for the recap to see which one of these six players won the prestigious WPT World Championship and $1,618,344.
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