Only eight players remain at the end of Day 3 in the World Poker Tour (WPT) $5,250 buy-in Gardens Poker Championship and among them is one of WPT’s most popular faces. Brad Owen will return for Day 4 with 15 big blinds as the award-winning poker vlogger makes yet another deep WPT run during his ambassador tenure.
Owen will be joined by chip leaders Ryan Salunga (5,775,000) and Chris Lee (4,000,000), as well as middling stacks Ky Nguyen (2,000,000) and Joseph Deluca (1,475,000) and short stacks Thomas Choi (1,075,000), Steven Spunt (850,000) and Joshua Lachman (675,000).
After three long days, we’ve made the $5k @WPT final table with 8 remaining. Guaranteed $42k, 1st is $357k. Day 4 i… https://t.co/Rj6DPnA1zk
All of these players are in search of their first WPT title and will return on May 25 at noon local time on their quest to do so. Day 4 will play for as many 90-minute levels as it takes to get down to six players as players return to blinds of 50,000/75,000/75,000.
The six-handed final table will then play to a winner on May 26 at the HyperX ESports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Each player is guaranteed a payday of at least $42,200, while the top prize of $357,380 awaits the eventual champion.
WPT Gardens Poker Championship Final Eight
| NAME | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Salunga | 5,775,000 | 77 | |
| Chris Lee | 4,000,000 | 53 | |
| Ky Nguyen | 2,000,000 | 26 | |
| Joseph Deluca | 1,475,000 | 19 | |
| Brad Owen | 1,175,000 | 15 | |
| Thomas Choi | 1,075,000 | 14 | |
| Steven Spunt | 850,000 | 11 | |
| Joshua Lachman | 675,000 | 9 |
Read About This ClubWPT Qualifier’s Experience in the WPT Gardens Poker Championship!
Day 3 Action
Day 3 saw 22 players return after the elimination of WPT champion Daniel Strelitz to close out the second day of play, according to WPT live updates.
Hathi Hosseini was the first to fall on Day 3 as she shoved king-three from the small blind as Calvin Ma woke up with a decent ace in the big blind. Hosseini couldn’t improve and had to settle for a $13,420.
Choi had a big moment when he was all in and dominated with ace-ten against the ace-queen of Albyn Bello. Choi was drawing even thinner on the flop before the runout gave him a runner-runner straight to double and leave Bello short.
Choi’s run-good was just beginning as he went on to double at least two more times to make it to the final table with 20 big blinds.
Speaking of run-good, Owen had a huge double-up when he called Travis Egbert’s four-bet jam as both players held an offsuit ace-king. Owens had the K♦ and it was good news as the flop landed 6♦4♦3♦ and Owen didn’t have to wait long for the J♦ to hit on the turn.
The veteran vlogger and WPT ambassador later finished off Egbert to make way for the nine-handed redraw.
Owen has had serious success since signing on as a WPT ambassador and pivoting to tournaments. He finished 35th in the 2022 WPT World Poker Championship for $99,600 and in March was runner-up in a WPT Prime Cambodia event for $28,373. If the popular content creator can catch some heat at the final table, he may just walk away a WPT champion.
As the WPT Gardens Poker Championship plays down to six, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown final table will be gearing up in Las Vegas inside the HyperX ESports Arena. That live-streamed event will kick off at 4:30 p.m. local time with commentary from Jamie Kerstetter and Jeff Platt.
WPT Gardens Poker Championship Remaining Payouts
| PLACE | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $357,380 | |
| 2 | $230,000 | |
| 3 | $169,000 | |
| 4 | $125,000 | |
| 5 | $94,000 | |
| 6 | $71,200 | |
| 7 | $54,500 | |
| 8 | $42,200 |
*Images courtesy of WPT.