John Hennigan is Among the Title Favorites Deep in the WPT World Championship
Poker Hall of Famer John Hennigan is heading into Day 4 of the WPT World Championship with a large stack, and he's one of many big name players still standing.
"Johnny World" last won a World Poker Tour (WPT) title in 2007, but taking down the most prestigious one of them all — and the $2,528,000 first-place prize — would be a good second victory. The poker legend who has seven World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and 63 others, will return to action at noon PT on Thursday at Wynn Las Vegas.
Phil Ivey, another poker boom era crusher, won't be coming back to compete, however. The WPT Champions Club member and ClubWPT Gold ambassador entered Day 3 with a big stack and had continued stacking chips early in the session before bowing out in 140th place for $25,000. Gus Hansen went out a bit before him in 142nd place, also good for $25,000.
The bubble burst early in the Day 3 session when Robert Noel went out in 234th place after his queen-rag couldn't crack pocket jacks. All remaining players were then guaranteed at least $19,600. Short stacks immediately began firing their chips in the middle hoping to double-up without worrying about the risk of busting and going home with nothing.
Can Johnny World Win His Second WPT Title?
Hennigan, a legendary gambler, will start Day 4 with 4,015,000 chips, or around 65 big blinds. He's well behind the chip leader, Konstantin Held (10,060,000), who has a commanding lead over the entire field. But that could all change within a few hands.
Johnny World was the 2007 WPT Borgata Winter Open champion, and that $1,606,223 payday is still the biggest of his Hall of Fame career. He defeated Charles Kelley Jr. heads-up to win that event nearly 19 years ago.
Winning this $10,400 buy-in tournament, which ends on Sunday, will require beating a tough remaining field that includes five other WPT Champions Club members, including the two biggest stacks — Held and Soheb Porbandarwala (6,360,000). Not only that, there are two past WPT Prime champions left (Zak VanKeuren and Nicholas Teeuwen), a former WSOP Player of the Year (Ian Matakis), and Wynn crusher Jeremy Becker.
The remaining 64 players are all guaranteed to leave with at least $42,000. Hennigan has already ensured he'll, at the very least, crack the $10 million mark lifetime in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob.
*Images courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
