After two long days of tournament action, 30 players converged on the Sunset Ballroom to settle the World Poker Finals' second biggest question (the first, of course, involves a certain $1.7 million) – who would claim the six seats at the WPT televised final table?
Play started at noon EST with $6,000-$12,000 blinds and $1,500 antes.
The remaining participants wasted little time in narrowing the pool of potential final table candidates. Andrew Poliquin exited action three minutes into play (30th – $20,033) and, before the end of the hour, three more players joined him outside the rail.
While the eliminations of short stacks and tournament amateurs came as no surprise, few expected the WPF's most famous remaining player to make an early departure. Coming off a late double-up on day two, Daniel Negreanu entered action in possession of something none of his opponents wanted to see, over $260,000 in chips. But, for the second tournament in a row, a WPT run ended with "Kid Poker" on the wrong end of a cracked big pocket pair.
After exiting last month's North American Poker Championship with pocket kings (bested by queens), Negreanu's World Poker Finals title bid died when he reraised all in on a K
8
6
flop with pocket aces, only to have Nenad Medic call…and show K 6
. Medic, one of the chip leaders entering play, sent Negreanu home as the WPF's 27th-place finisher ($25,757).
The other big story early on day three of the World Poker Finals centered on the presence of notable female pros still in contention. Mimi Tran and Kathy Liebert both finished the WPF's second stage in the top five chip stacks, and they were joined by Full Tilt's Clonie Gowen in the final field of 30.
A back-and-forth battle developed between Liebert, a tournament vet with over $1 million in cashes, and Erik Cajelais, the 2006 NAPC's 10th-place finisher and day two chip boss. Liebert landed the first significant blow after moving all in over the top of a Calejais preflop reraise. The win netted Liebert over $500,000 from Calejais.
The two squared off again, and Liebert delivered the kill shot when she turned trip sevens to beat Calejais' flopped two pair. For Liebert, the win gave her $1.5 million, and made Cajelais the 22nd-place elimination ($31,481).
Flopped sets brought differing fortunes for the other two remaining female players. While Gowen exited the WPF in 25th place ($25,757) when her pocket kings fell to Dan Sevigny's three nines, Tran shot up the leader board, and eliminated Doug Dicken (19th – $37,205), after her flopped set of jacks bested Dicken's flopped set of tens.
At 7:30 p.m. Dave Singer (not to be confused with Full Tilt's David "The Dragonfly" Singer) became the 11th-place finisher ($82,998) when his A-Q collided with Dan Savigny's pocket queens, and the 10 remaining players consolidated to the WPF's final table.
The chip counts and seating were as follows:
1. E.G. Harvin – $3,017,000 (seat #6)
2. Nenad Medic – $1,590,000 (seat #10)
3. Mimi Tran – $1,494,000 (seat #8)
4. Daryn Firicano – $1,310,000(seat #7)
5. Michael Omelchuk – $1,295,000 (seat #4)
6. Kathy Liebert – $1,210,000 (seat #5)
7. Dan Savigny – $950,000 (seat #1)
8. Mike Perry – $492,000 (seat #9)
9. Loi Phan – $309,000 (seat #2)
10. Farhad Sinai – $235,000 (seat #3)
Half an hour into final table play, E.G. Harvin's turned king-high straight made Loi Phan the table's first elimination (10th – $88,722). Forty-five minutes later, Mimi Tran's pocket aces held against Daryn Firicano's Q J (9th – $114,479) and the field stood two eliminations away from WPT fame.
Harvin notched his second final table bustout when Dan Savigny moved all in with A K, and Harvin, holding J J, called. The 10 7 55 4 board offered Savigny no help and his WPF ended with an eighth-place finish ($143,400).
At 9:13 p.m., Farhad Sinai, who had doubled up earlier in play, moved all in over the top of a Kathy Liebert $90,000 bet. Liebert called and showed A 8 to Sinai's 3 3. With fans and media crowded around the final table, day three of the World Poker Finals came to a close with Liebert pairing her eight on the 8 6 6 5 2 board.
Sinai earned $171,719 for his 7th place finish.
For the first time in World Poker Tour history, two female players will participate in a $10,000 buy-in open-event final table.
The chip counts for the six remaining participants are as follows:
1. E.G. Harvin – $4,680,000
2. Mimi Tran – $2,518,000
3. Kathy Liebert – $2,500,000
4. Nenad Medic – $1,281,000
5. Mike Perry – $682,000
6. Michael Omelchuk – $533,000
For a complete list of finishes, please click here.
Final table action resumes on Thursday at 4 p.m. EST, because on Wednesday the televised set will be used for the World Poker Tour Father-Son Challenge (which includes Card Player's own Barry Shulman and Jeff Shulman).
Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for all your live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and daily recaps.
Quote of the Day: "It's going to be like Mad Max and the Thunder Dome, with weapons hanging from the ceiling" – Joe Sebok on the WPT's father-son TV special.
