The WSOP has now verified the end-of-day chip tallies for the nine finalists in Event 34, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys. These are your finalists, with their total in chips entering the final table:
Kyle Kloeckner 845,000
Ted Forrest 757,000
Michael Guzzardi 751,000
Dario Alioto 659,000
Layne Flack 601,000
Daniel Makowsky 493,000
Frank Vizza 378,000
Jacobo Fernandez 348,000
Tim West 187,000
It took over ten hours for 48 players to work their way down to the final nine in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys event. After several short stacks dropped out quickly early on, action slowed until the cash bubble finally burst.
Clonie Gowen, Rene Mouritsen, Barny Boatman, Erik Seidel, and Jerrod Ankenman were among those who made it to the money. When Francisco Azares went out in 13th, Layne Flack celebrated, noting that thanks to all of his rebuys earlier, he needed to crack the top twelve in order to realize a profit.
Nathan Hagens and Michael Schwartz soon followed Azares, and the remaining ten players gathered around a single table here in the back of the Brasilia room to determine who among them would not be coming back tomorrow.
When that ten-handed table began, Tim "Tmay420" West was the short stack. He battled gamely, though, and still had chips when Kevin O'Donnell got knocked out by Ted Forrest.
Come back tomorrow at 2pm Vegas time to see who among West, Forrest, Flack, and the others emerge as our next WSOP bracelet winner.
Tim West is the short stack at the table and needs to hang in there and get chips somehow to make the official final table. He just check-raised Ted Forrest off a pot at the turn stage after a third club had been dealt.
He's still comparatively low to most so he's not there yet.
Michael Schwartz had just survived an anxiety-filled hand when Ted Forrest decided to fold rather than look him up. (Later Schwartz said to Forrest, "Stop reading me like a book!") Schwartz was at 125,000 after that hand.
On the next hand, Schwartz limped from the small blind and Frank Vizza called from the big blind. The flop came . Schwartz bet 20,000 and Vizza called. The turn was the and Schwartz quickly bet pot -- 64,000 -- leaving himself only about 30,000 behind. Vizza thought a moment, then raised to put Schwartz all in. Schwartz called.
Schwartz showed for top pair and a flush draw. Vizza showed for queens and sixes. The river didn't help Schwartz, and he's out. Vizza is back up to 420,000.
They are redrawing for the final ten-handed table. One more elimination and we're done for the night.