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WPT Championship

John O’Shea Leads WPT Championship; Williams, Benyamine, Nguyen Lurk


Watch David Williams Makes WPT Final 10 on RawVegas.tv

The 2010 WPT Championship is shaping up to be one of the best TV final tables in a long time.

With 10 players remaining, eight are legit, recognizable names. Leading the way is not one of those, as John O’Shea from Ireland claimed the chip lead on the last few hands of play, stacked at 3,174,000.

Scotty Nguyen is second overall, after flopping top set (9′s) against one-time chip leader David Williams‘ pocket 10′s. Despite his “I bruff you wif eight-free” hand from the 2003 WSOP, Nguyen is probably the tightest player on tour. As Gavin Smith commented to us when they were all-in, “If Scotty is all-in against David after the flop, there’s a 100% chance he’s got the best hand.” Nguyen is sitting with 2,637,000.

David Benyamine is third at 2,561,000, and the aforementioned David Williams (above, vlogging, stoked on Blue Diamond Almonds here) is still fourth at 2,459,000.

Also remaining are Billy Baxter (2,429,000), Eric Baldwin (2,130,000), Johnny “Cliff Josephy” Bax (1,269,000), Shawn Buchanan (1,087,000), Nikolay Evdakov (922,000), and a free-falling-in-the-last-30-mins-of-play Phil Hellmuth (839,000).

Follow the actionTM starting at 3pm ET here.

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Faraz Jaka Really Wants to Be WPT POY


Watch Can David Williams take the WPT? on RawVegas.tv

With 18 remaining, Faraz Jaka reclaimed the chip lead at the WPT Championship.

Jaka, who currently holds the lead for WPT Player of the Year, has expressed behind-the-scenes how much he’d like to earn the honors, and is playing like it too. That was a really poorly constructed sentence.

While Jaka holds the chip lead with 3,117,000, he doesn’t necessarily have the title locked up yet…right BJ? A bunch of big names/waist-lines still remain. David Benyamine is second overall with 2,350,000. David Williams (above discussing if he can take down the title) is third overall with 2,072,000.

Also remaining are old-schooler Billy Baxter (1,630,000), Phil Hellmuth (1,377,000), Shawn Buchanan (1,224,000), a looking-to-make-back-to-back-WPT-Championship-final-tables Scotty Nguyen (941,000), Eric Baldwin (880,000), JJ Liu, a woman (674,000), Johnny “Cliff Josephy” Bax (458,000), Jason Lester/Al Krux (421,000), Josh Arieh (303,000), and Matt Stout (274,000).

Heather Sue Mercer was eliminated in 21st.

Get full chip counts here.

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Shawn Buchanan Still Leading WPT Championship


Shawn Buchanan continued his dominant run at the WPT Championship, ending Day 3 as chip leader, stacked at 1,841,000.

More interesting though is that he’s followed by an absolute out-of-nowhere Heather Sue Mercer, a woman, with 1,364,000. Mercer has a bunch of cashes at the Borgata back in 2008 and that’s about it. Other than that, wtf. BJ?

Plenty of notables among the 35 remaining, including but certainly not limited to Matt Stout (919,500), Billy Baxter (887,500), Faraz Jaka (856,000), Phil Hellmuth (806,500), David Williams (757,000), David Benyamine (731,000), Carlos Mortensen (586,000), Scotty Nguyen (569,500), and last year’s champ, Yevgeniy Timoshenko (350,000).

Get full chip counts here.

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Faraz Jaka Leads Day 2 of WPT Championship


David Williams and his new look (not pictured) is among the WPT Championship Day 2 chip leaders.

The 2010 WPT Championship ended up with a total field of 195, down pretty significantly from the 338 who entered last year. This is also the fewest entrants since Season 1, which brought in 111.

First place will pay out $1,530,537, down from its peak in 2007 when Carlos Mortensen won $3,970,415.

All of that aside, current WPT POY leader Faraz Jaka is looking to shore up that title. He ended Day 2 as chip leader, stacked at 597,100. He’s trailed by Shawn Buchanan (596,600) and Justin Bonomo (503,600).

Other notable big stacks include Brandon Cantu (489,000), David Williams (363,300), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (279,400), and the aforementioned Carlos Mortensen (261,100).

Only 98 remain. Follow the action starting at 3pm ET here.

In semi-related news, at post-time 17 remain at the EPT San Remo. Allan Bække leads with 3,483,000. Liv Boeree remains with 1,337,000. Follow here.

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Yevgeniy Timoshenko Among WPT Championship Day 1 Leaders


Watch Evy Ng goes Dutch on RawVegas.tv

Registration hasn’t closed yet, but a probably-less-than-hoped-for 161 have signed up so far for this year’s WPT Championship.

Of the 161 who entered, 138 have made it to Day 2. One-time WPT winner Shawn Buchanan is the chip leader, stacked at 388,600. Last year’s WPT Championship winner and looking less-like-a-chick-these-days, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, is among the big stacks at 277,375.

Other big named big stacks include some guy named Phil Ivey (230,250), Prahlad Friedman (204,000), and Beth Shak, a woman (189,725).

Get full chip counts here.

In somewhat related news, 27 currently remain at the EPT San Remo. Dmitry Stelmak is first overall with 2,270,000. He’s followed by Allan Bække with 2,200,000. Liv Boeree, a woman, is still alive with 825,000. Follow the action here.

Finally, in totally unrelated news, above is Evy Ng‘s latest vlog. She and her boyfriend Lex Veldhuis do not appear to be playing in the WPT Championship, unless they happen to register today. There. Now it’s semi-related.

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