Chahn Jung Holds Healthy Lead Going Into Final Table at Wynn Millions Championship
It's the redemption tour for Chahn Jung, who will lead the remaining nine players into the final table at the $3,500 Wynn Millions Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas. Coming off a ninth-place finish just one year ago, Jung has done all he can to position himself to better that result and take home his first major tournament victory.
It took nearly the full eight levels on Day 3 to get down to the final table, one day earlier than the tournament staff had scheduled for. Thus, the tournament will be crowning a champion one day earlier as well, pocketing $397,319 for the win in the process.
It was a wild ride for Jung who played the largest pot of the tournament thus far in the midst of his mid-day heater. Jung cracked the aces of Austin Apicella after flopping a flush, vaulting the chip leader into the eight-figure mark. Despite some late-night struggles, Jung still bagged a healthy chip lead with 9,155,000, good enough for over 100 big blinds.
End of Day 3 Chip Counts of Wynn Millions Championship
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chahn Jung | United States | 9,155,000 | 114 |
| 2 | Ernest Bush | United States | 6,495,000 | 81 |
| 3 | Quang Vu | United States | 4,565,000 | 57 |
| 4 | Alexander Farahi | United States | 4,260,000 | 53 |
| 5 | Jeff Madsen | United States | 4,205,000 | 53 |
| 6 | Joseph Spanne | United States | 2,010,000 | 25 |
| 7 | Adam Walton | United States | 1,735,000 | 22 |
| 8 | Gregory Rankich | United States | 1,455,000 | 18 |
| 9 | Ryan Tosoc | United States | 795,000 | 10 |
Day 3 Action
There were 44 players who returned to their seats for the start of Day 3 and it was a flurry of eliminations in the opening levels that sent a large portion of the field to the payout desk. Some of the early notables to be eliminated included Sam Soverel, Aaron Massey, Jared Jaffee, and David "ODB" Baker all before the first break of the day. With the final three tables assembled in short order, the pay jumps started to become more significant.
That didn't slow down any of the action as the tournament staff quickly realized that they needed to adjust the schedule going forward, being that this event was scheduled to take place over five days. Jesse Lonis, Joao Simao, and Peter Cross also made their way to the exit and the tournament organizers agreed with the players to make this a four-day event, crowning a champion tomorrow instead.
The action started to get a little more serious at the final two tables and the eliminations were more scarce. Maxx Coleman and Rex Jensen both ran into superior hands moments apart, and then Apicella had his aces cracked in the aforementioned confrontation with the chipleader, Jung. The remaining 12 players battled it out for well over an hour before former WSOP Main Event runner-up Steven Jones chose a spot hoping to pick up some dead chips, however ran into the pocket kings of Quang Vu.
Another hour had passed with chips being tossed from one side of the table to the other, but eventually it was the start-of-day chip leader and the last woman remaining, Nadya Magnus, who risked her short stack with pocket tens. She was up against the two overcards of Ernest Bush who turned a pair and turned Magnus to the rail. In the last hand of the night, Qing Liu only had a few big blinds and took a suited holding to the streets. He was faced with a sizeable challenge up against the pocket tens of Vu who managed to hold on.
Following the two big stacks at the top of the leaderboard, Vu is joined by Alexander Farahi and Jeff Madsen, all of whom have around 50 big blinds to start the final day. They will be hoping to stave off elimination while the short stacks will be pressured to make a move. Ryan Tosoc rounds out the field in ninth place as the only player with less than 10 big blinds.
The remaining nine players bagged up their chips with just over 38 minutes remaining in level 26 with the blinds at 40,000/80,000 and an 80,000 big blind ante. They will be returning at 12 p.m. local time tomorrow to play down to a winner with the majority of the prizepool still up for grabs. Each player has locked up at least $36,313 thus far but many of these players can secure their largest career payday with a few pay jumps.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | $397,319 |
| 2nd | $271,245 |
| 3rd | $200,955 |
| 4th | $148,953 |
| 5th | $110,283 |
| 6th | $81,836 |
| 7th | $61,168 |
| 8th | $46,647 |
| 9th | $36,313 |
The PokerNews team will be back to bring you all of the live updates from the final table en route to crowning a new Wynn Millions Championship winner.