They\’re down to six at the WPT World Poker Challenge in Reno. Good players, too … including David Pham, JC Tran, Mark Seif, and Danny Wong (not the Wong I have on my fantasy team, but a really good Wong nonetheless). $683k to the winner — a notably smaller payout than last year … No million-dollar champion, and roughly $90k less to whomever takes over Tom\’s coveted 3rd-place crown. I wonder how the fact that there are fewer chips at the final table will affect play. The WPT, of course, still seems to believe that lots of all-ins makes for exciting poker TV, which may or may not be true.
Dallas expatriate Chantel looked like she might do more-than-cash, but in the end, she went out in 48th or 49th place, with 45 getting paid. Though I\’m not sure what the chip-stacks were pre-flop, the hand she busted out on might merit some discussion … (You gotta fold those queens, right?)
From CardPlayer:
Mon Mar 26 13:57:00 PDT 2007
Erick Lindgren Knocks Out Two Players
Chantel McNulty raises to $7,000 preflop and Derrick Harrington reraises to $22,500. Erick Lindgren, having both players covered, moves all in. Both McNulty and Harrington make the call. Lindgren shows AhKh, McNulty turns over QhQs and Harrington flips up AcAd. However, the board comes Jh-9h-7c-Kd-10h. McNulty makes her straight but Lindgren catches a heart flush to win the pot and eliminate both players.Erick Lindgren now has around $170,000 chips.
Barry Greenstein would go out next, and an unknown would be the bona-fide bubble. Lindgren would go on to finish in 10th place, taking home about $25k.