Day 3 Begins @ 12:00 noon PT; WPT California Swing Could Be Decided Today

Photo:  Chipleader Niall Farrell (left) and WPT California Swing points leader Rainer Kempe (right). Kempe is out of the tournament, but could lock up the WPT California Swing title today.

Day 3 of WPT Rolling Thunder begins at 12:00 noon PT, when the final 57 players will play their way down to the WPT Final Table, which begins at 12:00 noon on Wednesday and we will be broadcast via the WPT Live Stream.

Unfortunately, only 53 of these players will finish in the money. The seat draw and chip counts are listed below, and here is the top of the chip counts, followed by the prizepool at stake:

1.  Niall Farrell  –  893,000  (149 bb)
2.  Chuck Nguyen  –  644,000  (107 bb)
3.  Alex Foxen  –  568,000  (95 bb)
4.  John Hadley  –  471,000  (79 bb)
5.  Sorel Mizzi  –  466,000  (78 bb)

1st:  $284,638*
2nd:  $190,105
3rd:  $122,296
4th:  $81,930
5th:  $63,013
6th:  $52,222
7th:  $43,829
8th:  $35,437
9th:  $27,177
10th-12th:  $22,914
13th-15th:  $19,050
16th-18th:  $15,720
19th-21st:  $13,056
22nd-24th:  $11,057
25th-27th:  $9,059
28th-36th:  $7,460
37th-45th:  $6,661
46th-53rd:  $5,862

* First-prize amount includes the winner’s $15,000 entry into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Speaking of leaderboards, this is the third and final event of the WPT California Swing, which could be decided today..

Players had to play all three events in order to qualify (the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, and WPT Rolling Thunder), and of those players, the points leader is Rainer Kempe, who finished 18th at LAPC and sixth at Bay 101 to earn 212 points. That’s the mark to beat.

Kempe was eliminated on Day 2, so his point total is set. Players who min-cash will earn an additional 10 points, with more points for each higher place, all the way up to 168 points for the winner. (The point system and the winner’s prize package can be found in the official rules by clicking here.)

There are still six players in the field who can pass Kempe to win the WPT California Swing, and here are their current point totals and how high they need to finish to pass Kempe.

Rainer Kempe  –  212 pts  (current leader)

Brian Altman  –  115 pts  (6th or higher)
Kevin MacPhee  –  113 pts  (6th or higher)
Dean Baranowski  –  100 pts  (5th or higher)
Charlie Carrel  –  85 pts  (4th or higher)
Derek Wolters  –  84 pts  (4th or higher)
Mohsin Charania  –  65 pts  (1st or 2nd)

If none of those players survives Day 3 to reach the final six, then Kempe will win the WPT California Swing. Otherwise, he may need to sweat it for one more day.

Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments for the final 57 players at the start of Day 3:

1-1  Brett Apter  –  283,000
1-2  Peter Xiong  –  210,000
1-3  Pat Lyons  –  230,000
1-4  Shawn Roberts  –  158,000
1-5  Sorel Mizzi  –  466,000
1-6  John Bettencourt  –  80,000
1-7  Charles Maddellena  –  262,000
1-8  Ajay Gnanasambanthan  –  145,000
1-9  Ari Engel  –  140,000

2-1
2-2  Olivier Busquet  –  264,000
2-3  Lee Markholt  –  140,000
2-4  Mike Lancaster  –  61,000
2-5  Anthony Winters  –  88,000
2-6  James Colson  –  46,000
2-7  Gerald Feinerman  –  131,000
2-8  Charlie Carrell  –  289,000
2-9  Anthony DeLuca  –  167,000

3-1  Kevin MacPhee  –  130,000
3-2  Paul Saso  –  283,000
3-3
3-4  Mohsin Charania  –  321,000
3-5  Dean Baranowski  –  101,000
3-6  Josh Reichard  –  152,000
3-7  Mimi Luu  –  82,000
3-8  Ekrem Bozkurt  –  109,000
3-9  Damion Underwood  –  50,000

4-1  Larry Green  –  186,000
4-2  Dana Jones  –  211,000
4-3  Mike Ruter  –  101,000
4-4  Tho Tran  –  164,000
4-5  John Hadley  –  471,000
4-6  Aaron Frei  –  258,000
4-7
4-8  Tom Sego  –  239,000
4-9  Kou Vang  –  228,000

5-1  Ricky Vance  –  83,000
5-2  Ping Liu  –  125,000
5-3  Ankush Mandavia  –  116,000
5-4  Dan Harmetz  –  332,500
5-5  David Valdez  –  122,000
5-6  Derek Wolters  –  160,000
5-7  Jaroslaw Markowiak  –  266,000
5-8  Denzel Suntay  –  240,000
5-9

6-1  Brian Altman  –  358,000
6-2  Jasthi Kumar  –  265,000
6-3  Kevin Eyster  –  314,500
6-4  Connor Drinan  –  185,000
6-5
6-6  Niall Farrell  –  893,000
6-7  Michael Tureniec  –  312,000
6-8  Josh Morrow  –  179,000
6-9  Chuck Nguyen  –  644,000

7-1  Mike Del Vecchio  –  231,000
7-2
7-3  Greg Wagner  –  98,000
7-4  Alex Foxen  –  568,000
7-5  Glenn Miller  –  113,000
7-6  Justo Avalos  –  109,000
7-7  Tuan Mai  –  171,000
7-8  Tom Riley  –  38,000
7-9  Steven Tabb  –  463,000