The WPT Prime Championship is well underway at the Wynn Las Vegas with the brutally long Day 3 of the massive event ending when the field hit nine players.
Over four Day 1 flights, the tournament attracted 10,512 entries for a $10,196,640 prize pool more than doubling the guarantee. These nine players are all that remain of the 10,000 entrants and form the unofficial final table.
Jon Glendinning will be chip leader when play resumes at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow to play down to the official final table of six.
Glendinning has 72,600,000 in chips, putting him in a good position to chase the first prize of $1,386,280.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Glendinning | United States | 72,600,000 | 73 |
| 2 | Jay Lu | United States | 67,900,000 | 68 |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | United States | 61,200,000 | 61 |
| 4 | Valeriy Pak | Uzbekistan | 60,200,000 | 60 |
| 5 | Bob Buckenmayer | United States | 46,600,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Aaron Pinson | United States | 45,900,000 | 46 |
| 7 | Yuebin Guo | United States | 32,600,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Mukul Pahuja | United States | 17,900,000 | 18 |
| 9 | Tri Dao | United States | 16,500,000 | 17 |
Read more: Cash And Tournaments—Which Is Better For Your Poker Game?
Day 3 Action
The 1,309 Day 1 survivors combined into one field on Day 2 and played down to 128.
Along the way, the bubble burst seamlessly with smooth play assisted by the new shot clock system.
The 128 players who made Day 3 included names like Andrew Moreno (118th – $7,260), the final table bubble boy Steven Jones (10th – $135,850), and Calvin Anderson who survived into Day 4 as the third chip leader.
Valeriy Pak — currently fourth in chips — was one of the big heroes of the day. Pak played entertaining poker on the WPT live stream, applying plenty of idiosyncratic strategies such as setting up a three-bet bluff by leading the flop with a bet of less than two big blinds.
Final Table Payouts
| Position | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,386,280 |
| 2 | $910,000 |
| 3 | $675,000 |
| 4 | $505,000 |
| 5 | $380,000 |
| 6 | $290,000 |
| 7 | $225,000 |
| 8 | $173,000 |
| 9 | $135,850 |
More To Come Wednesday
Play was initially meant to reach the official final table of six players. However, as the day dragged on into its fifteenth hour, the decision to cut it short came as a great relief to the players.
Glendinning leads tomorrow’s field with 72 big blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante. However, he will be up against stiff competition, with three of his opponents—including the very tough Anderson and Pak—still at least 60 big blinds deep.
The final nine are all guaranteed a min-cash of $135,850, but Glendinning et al. will have their eyes on the top prize of $1,386,280 and the WPT Prime Championship title that comes with it.
The players will reconvene tomorrow, December 13 for more action to be live-streamed on the WPT Youtube channel.
Once they reach the final six, play will pause again to be resumed on December 19.