The final table of the Season XVI WPT Legends of Poker Main Event is set, following a near 12-hour day at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino. The elimination of David “Doc” Sands in seventh place ended the day, and it was JC Tran taking him out to bag an even bigger chip lead.
On the final hand of Day 4, it was Tran’s 
against the 
of the at-risk Sands. Two queens landed on the 
flop, followed by the 
turn card and 
river. The quads did it for Tran, and Sands was eliminated in seventh place for a payday of $72,985.
With the elimination of Sands, Tran bagged up a stack of 8.295 million in chips, which is more than 2 million ahead of Art Papazyan in second place with 6.005 million. Tran, a two-time WPT Champions Club member, will be looking to join Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, and Chino Rheem as three-time WPT title holders.
Behind Tran and Papazyan on the leaderboard is the one and only Phil Hellmuth, the WPT’s new Raw Deal analyst. Despite all of Hellmuth’s vast success in poker, he has yet to claim a World Poker Tour title, and Thursday could be the day. Hellmuth will enter the televised final table in third place with a stack of 2.94 million.
Joining Tran, Papazyan, and Hellmuth at the televised Season XVI WPT Legends of Poker Main Event final table will be DJ Alexander (2.73 million), Adam Swan (1.655 million), and Marvin Rettenmaier (1.225 million). For Rettenmaier, although he is the shortest stack returning for Day 5, he has plenty of experience on his side, including two World Poker Tour titles under his belt. Like Tran, Rettenmaier could join the ranks of Hansen, Mortensen, Zinno, Elias, and Rheem as three-time WPT champions.
Wednesday’s Day 4 began with 24 players returning from the field of 763 entries. Tran held the lead, and there was no shortage of action throughout the day, including the eliminations of David Baker (11th), Jason Les (17th), Tuan Le (19th), and Garrett Greer (20th) en route to the final table.
When the remaining nine players joined up at one table, Tran was still out in front. He then busted Oddie Dardon in ninth place and Jared Griener in eighth place to put the tournament on the televised final table bubble. As it would turn out, Tran also busted Sands in seventh place, and the televised Season XVI WPT Legends of Poker Main Event final table was set.
Thursday’s final table will see the cards in the air at 4 p.m. PT at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino, and each of the remaining six players are guaranteed a minimum of $91,825. Up top is $653,692, a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, and a luxurious Hublot Big Bang Steel watch. You’ll be able to find live event coverage of every hand from start to finish of the final table starting at 4 p.m., or you can watch the final table stream on a 30-minute delay on PokerGO, starting at 4:30 p.m. To watch, you must be a subscriber to PokerGO, and you can head to PokerGO.com to sign up today. If you’re just signing up for the first time, be sure to use the sign-up code “WPT” to receive $10 off a yearly subscription.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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