The WPT World Championship table is all set for tomorrow! Sixteen players came back today to the Encore ballroom and for ten of those, the dream of winning the $5.6 million first place was cut short.
Following several hours of play today, we now have our final table of six, headlined by two absolute crushers – Chris Moorman and Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger. The fact these two made it all the way to the finish stretch in such a massive field proves, once again, that skill in poker trumps everything else.
Read on to find out how things went down today at the WPT World Championship and who’ll else will be returning tomorrow for the final day of play.
Ben Jacobs’ Dreams Crushed
Ben Jacobs, the man who entered the tournament at the last minute, entered the penultimate day as a significant chip leader. Things were shaping up nicely for another great poker story about a player who stumbled upon a massive win by pure accident.
However, it wasn’t meant to be for Jacobs this time around, as his run ended in ninth place. He simply couldn’t pick up the momentum today and ended up as the first casualty of the unofficial final table of nine.
His pocket kings fell victim to Lichtenberger’s A♣Q♣ to put an end to Jacobs’ dreams of winning the Championship, but he’ll hardly regret his decision to join the event considering his efforts netted him $566,900.
As for those who fell before Jacobs, they took home between $291,700 and $456,500, while John Richards, who was eliminated in 10th received the exact same payout as Jacobs.
‘LuckyChewy’ and Chris Moorman Putting on the Show
Andrew Lichtenberger started the day with a modest stack, but today, he went on a hot run, which, combined with his skill and experience, meant bad news for his opponents.
Lichtenberger went from strength to strength, winning one hand after another and eliminating several opponents in the process.
After eliminating Jacobs, ‘LuckyChewy’ also took care of Mark Mounsey as Mounsey’s pocket Tens were no match to Andrew’s pocket Aces. His eighth place finish earned Mark Mounsey $721,600.
Chris Moorman, another tournament crusher in the field, also managed to chip up through the day, and he was the one to bring about the official final table of six when his 10♦9♦ managed to outrun the A♦K♦ of short-stacked Carl Shaw.
Images courtesy of WPT.com
It was a bad beat for Shaw, but he’ll have some consolation in the $928,900 that he netted for the seventh place finish.
The Stage Is Set to Crown the WPT World Champion
With the final table of six set, the play was stopped, and it will resume tomorrow. The final table play will be streamed live on the WPT YouTube channel starting at 4 pm Las Vegas time. Players are coming back to 600,000/1,200,000 blinds with a 1,200,000 big blind ante.
Andrew Lichtenberger will start the day as the chip leader, sitting on the stack of 148 million. He’s trailed by Chris Moorman on 88 million, so there is quite a gap between the two super pros.
Sitting third in chips is Georgios Sotiropoulos. It may not be the name most have heard of, but Sotiropoulos is actually a very experienced grinder with close to $4 million in live cashes, all coming from tournaments with relatively low buy-ins.
The @WPT World Championship Final Table is STACKED! 🏆
We've reached the Final 6 in the $10,400 @WPT World Championship @WynnLasVegas @WynnPoker!@luckychewy leads the Final 6 into action with all remaining guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,207,000 — but just one will take… pic.twitter.com/TmdK0urohW
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 21, 2023
Starting with the fourth-largest stack of 36 million is another absolute crusher, Ben Heath. Heath is no stranger to big buy-ins or big wins, with his Hendon Mob showing just shy of $20 million in live cashes.
Bringing up the rear are Daniel Sepiol and Artur Martirosian with 34 and 29 million, respectively. Sepiol is arguably the “weakest link” with just $1.4 million in live cashes, while Martirosian is another well-known name with $12.6 million in earnings.
For a tournament with nearly four thousand runners, it is really impressive and quite unexpected to have a such stacked final table, but that’s how the cards and chips broke this time around.
It took some day and many hands of poker, but tomorrow, we’ll know the name of the WPT World Championship winner, so make sure to tune in for the exciting finish of this epic tournament!
