Day 4 of the Season XVIII WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic saw 81 players begin the day from inside the poker room at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Following five 90-minute levels of play, just 22 players would survive into the penultimate day of play as WPT Champions Club member Seth Davies finished as the chip leader with 5,110,000 in chips.
Davies’ rise up the leaderboard began with the elimination of Alex Papazian in a hand that took up the majority of the players’ break. Davies flopped two pair and Papazian called off on the river with third pair and was eliminated. Davies won a number of pots in the latter stage of the day, including one against fellow WPT Champions Club member Eric Afriat to see his stack eclipse the 5 million chip mark.
In Season XV, Davies won the partypoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship for $226,893 to claim his first WPT title. Davies has been a regular on the high roller scene both here in Las Vegas, and around the world, and has seen his lifetime tournament earnings soar to over $6.7 million. On the WPT, Davies has collected eight cashes on the Main Tour for nearly $390,000 in winnings, and with his monster chip lead heading into play down lead, he will be looking to reach his second WPT final table.
“It’s really exciting,” said Davies at the end of the night on the WPT Five Diamond atmosphere. “1,000 players in a $10K is pretty ridiculous, as far as main events it’s one of the most exciting ones.”
Davies is used to playing for seven-figures as a high roller regular and that experience is assisting him as the money may be weighing on others.
“I think you come across more players that are nervous and risk-averse in a smaller buy-in like this. Which is fine, it’s still a ton of money. It alieves some of the pressure, you’ve been there before. I’ve have had big direct bubbles that were for huge amounts for money. I’ve felt the pain before so it’s a lot less nerve-wracking for more me than some other people.”
Following a double on one of the final hands of play, Toby Joyce finished with 3,360,000 in chips. Joyce is fresh off a 12th-place finish at the recent WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open which is his best result on the WPT that includes five Main Tour cashes and one WPTDeepStacks cash for over $143,000 in WPT winnings. Only three other players sit with over 3 million in chips as WPT Champions Club member Jonathan Jaffe (3,120,000), Alex Foxen (3,080,000), and WPT Champions Club member Darren Elias (3,005,000 ) round out the top five chip counts.
Players also still in contention include WPT Champions Club members Chino Rheem (2,015,000) and Eric Afriat (1,600,000), along with Season X WPT Player of the Year Joe Serock (430,000).
Table 32
Seat 1: Peter Neff – 1,065,000 (36 bb)
Seat 2: Kevin MacPhee – 835,000 (28 bb)
Seat 3: Krzysztof Stybaniewicz – 1,415,000 (47 bb)
Seat 4: Brian Yoon – 470,000 (16 bb)
Seat 5: T.K. Miles – 575,000 (19 bb)
Seat 6: Chino Rheem – 2,015,000 (67 bb)
Seat 7: — empty —
Seat 8: Daniel Park – 1,710,000 (57 bb)
Table 33
Seat 1: Timo Kamphues – 2,575,000 (86 bb)
Seat 2: Seth Davies – 5,110,000 (170 bb)
Seat 3: Toby Joyce – 3,360,000 (112 bb)
Seat 4: — empty —
Seat 5: Kevin Albers – 1,965,000 (66 bb)
Seat 6: Eric Afriat – 1,600,000 (53 bb)
Seat 7: Darren Elias – 3,005,000 (100 bb)
Seat 8: Ali Imsirovic – 2,485,000 (83 bb)
Table 34
Seat 1: Keith Lehr – 1,920,000 (64 bb)
Seat 2: Sebastien Grax – 930,000 (31 bb)
Seat 3: Jonathan Jaffe – 3,120,000 (104 bb)
Seat 4: Alex Foxen – 3,080,000 (103 bb)
Seat 5: Bob Shao – 1,930,000 (64 bb)
Seat 6: Sandeep Pulusani – 345,000 (12 bb)
Seat 7: Joe Serock – 430,000 (14 bb)
Seat 8: Jonathan Depa – 1,710,000 (57 bb)
The final 22 players are all currently guaranteed $60,435 in prize money, and for the six players that remain at the end of Day 5 play, they will be guaranteed a spot at the Season XVIII WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic final table and $355,125 in prize money. For the one player that can climb the mountain to collect the title, they will take home the $1,694,995 first-place prize that includes a seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions, along with having their name engraved on the WPT Champions Cup.
To view the Season XVIII WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic payouts, click here.
Day 5 of the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic begins at 12 p.m. (PT) on Friday with continuous live updates being provided by the World Poker Tour until the final table of six players is reached. Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive
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