The WPT500 is down to its final 35 players and action will resume in less than an hour in the Tournament Hall at Playground Poker Club. When play gets underway, the 35 players will be arrayed around 5 tables – but that situation won’t likely last for long as the tourney will move to 4 tables at 32 players remaining – just 3 eliminations away. The tournament will play to its conclusion today, and after the first table breaks, there will be redraws at 24 and 16 players remaining, and later when the final table is brought together with 9 remaining.
The WPT Action Clock will be in service throughout the day, and players will be reset to 6 (total) Time chips at 24 players, and again to 8 total when the final table is reached. The Action Clock requires every player to make decisions in a timely fashion and has proven to be a successful way to keep the rapid pace of the tournament.
The min-cash for players today will be $3,750, but no doubt all eyes will be on the much bigger prizes that will be paid to players on the final table – and to the Champion, who will take home a $200,000 prize!
The chip leader to start the day is Geoffrey Hum, who begins with 5,670,000 (71bb), but the field is full of experienced and skilled players, including Mukul Pahuja (49bb), Daniel Le (39bb), Raymond Latinsky (25bb), Pierre Paul Paulin (23bb). And it would be dangerous for the field to ignore two-time WPT Champion Eric Afriat, who despite only starting with 1,100,000 chips (14bb) has proven to be a perpetual threat as long as he’s still alive in a tournament!
Good luck to everyone playing today! Cards are in the air at 12:00pm.
