After three Day 1 heats and a 12-hour Day 2, 10 players have emerged to contest the final table here at Mid-States Poker Tour Golden Gates Casino, but nine of them are looking way up at Dan Colpoys. Colpoys comes into Day 3 with 3,907,000 in chips, more than a third of the total in play.
The other contenders: Kris Wagner (1,668,000), Jonathan McCray (1,429,000), Danny Ray Gonzales (1,238,000), William Givens (1,066,000), Brad Zotti (770,000), Rosie Paules (401,000), Phanora Prom (314,000), Kou Vang (309,000), and Jonathan Haidsiak (256,000).
Despite toting the second-shortest stack into Day 3, Kou Vang may be the scariest player remaining. He's coming off of an eighth-place finish at MSPT Majestic Star (in which he got all in with and flopped a set against only to be run down by a backdoor straight) and a second-place finish at MSPT Baton Rouge in which he was all in ahead for the championship twice and lost both times. If Vang can make any headway early on and build a stack, the other players at the table will have a much tougher time of it.
Still, Colpoys remains the odds-on favorite due to his massive stack advantage over the other players. We'll see if he can hold onto his lead, or if someone else will take the championship and the $114,156. Stay tuned here on PokerNews to find out.
Kou Vang opened for a raise to 52,000, and Phanora Prom shoved on the button for 142,000. Vang thought for a bit before making the call.
Vang:
Prom:
Prom had his opponent dominated, and the flop came , giving Vang a pair and Prom an open-ender. A turn was a brick, but Vang spiked the on the river to make two pair and bust his opponent.
In a min-raised pot, Jonathan McCray check-called 48,000 from Brad Zotti on a flop. Both players checked the turn, and Zotti attempted to check the river out of turn. McCray fired 70,000, and Zotti came out with a raise to 150,000. McCray announced all in, and Zotti called immediately.
Zotti:
McCray:
McCray had flopped quads, and his slow-play had paid off when Zotti runnered a flush.
Kou Vang continues to have alligator blood, winning the key pots he needs to stay alive. He shoved for 475,000 from the button over a cutoff open from Kris Wagner, and Wagner made the call.
Wagner:
Vang:
Vang won the race, dodging numerous outs on the river when the board came .
In a five-way limp pot, the blinds checked to Jonathan McCray, who bet 50,000 on a flop. Action folded to William Givens in the small blind, who pushed all in for 190,000 total. The big blind folded, and McCray called.
McCray:
Givens:
The dealer wasted no time shipping McCray his three-outer, as the hit the board on the turn. A ended Givens' tournament in sixth.
Kou Vang made this third straight Mid-States Poker Tour final table, but for the third straight time, he walked away without the title.
Dan Colpoys opened for 125,000 in the cutoff, and Kris Wagner three-bet to 310,000 on the button. Kou Vang woke up with an all-in four-bet to 660,000 from the small blind, and both Colpoys and Wagner called.
The two active players checked down the board.
"Two jacks," Colpoys said, showing . Wagner mucked his cards, and Vang raised up the and tossed them into the middle face up.
Kris Wagner opened to 175,000 on the button, and Jonathan McCray three-bet all in. Wagner called off his stack.
Wagner:
McCray:
Wagner was in trouble, and the flop only worsened things by giving his opponent a flush draw. A hit the board, changing nothing, and a river cinched it for McCray by giving him the nut flush.
Dan Colpoys shoved all in from the small blind, and Danny Gonzales called it off.
Gonzales:
Colpoys:
Gonzales was trying for his second double with live cards, but a flop gave him nothing. The didn't help either, but his sizable rail still seemed to believe the double was coming. They were disappointed when the hit the board, leaving Gonzales out in third.