Viet Vo Looking for Redemption at WPT Choctaw

WPT Choctaw Main Event Final Table Chip leader Viet Vo

For the second time in three seasons, Viet Vo has final tabled the WPT Choctaw Main Event. However, unlike the Season 17 Final Table, where he ultimately finished in 2nd place, Vo heads into the Season 19 final six with the chip lead and has 9.7 million after knocking out Terry Presley in seventh place to close out day 3.

After coming into day 3 as one of the shorter stacks in the remaining field of 35 runners, Vo found an early double when he woke up with pocket aces in the hijack after Adam Hendrix open-shoved from under the gun. Vo moved all-in over the top, and John Lopez picked a terrible time to get ladies in the big blind when he called them both. The board ran out clean, Hendrix was eliminated, and Vo vaulted well over a million in chips, never looking back.

Vo, who closed out Season 18 with a third-place finish in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event, has started Season 19 off with a bang as he finished in 86th place during the WPT Venetian early this month and now leads the field with six left here at Choctaw.

In a deja vu scenario, fellow WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event final tablist Albert Calderon is hot on Vo’s tail as he heads into the final six second in chips with 8.4 million. Calderon had a hand in eliminating seven of the 29 players that fell on Day 3, but the one player he couldn’t get rid of joins him at the final table but has a hole to climb as he is the second shortest stack.

Late in level 26, Hunter Cichy was all-in for his tournament life holding against Calderon’s , and when the flop fell, Cichy needed runner-runner to stay in the tournament. Ask, and ye shall receive as the board ran out to give Cichy a higher full house and the double.

Albert Calderon (left) and Hunter Cichy (right)

While that one hand alone would be enough to talk about for months, if not years, Cichy’s magic continued twice more when the players reached the final table. First, he cracked the ace-king of Presley with king-queen to stay alive and double once more. Finally, Cichy would again find himself on the wrong end of an all-in situation when he shoved pocket tens into the pocket queens of Michael Perrone. However, luck was still on his side when the river fell, an unlikely ten of clubs giving him a set and the double. Perrone would end the night as the short stack with just over two million in chips, which gives him 22 big blinds to play with on Day 4.

Rounding out the final six players are Season 18 WPT Montreal runner-up Dapo Ajayi and local pro Will Nguyen. Ajayi held the chip lead for most of the day after sun running for the first five levels. After starting the day with exactly one million in chips, Ajayi would wind up with 25% of the total chips in play after eliminating Kolin Deshazo in 14th place late in level 25. Ajayi would hang around the nine million chip mark for most of the remaining two levels of play in the day, eventually bagging with 8,075,000 good for third, just behind Calderon. Nguyen started the day with just over one million in chips and heads into the final six with 6.2 million chips, good for fourth, about two million less than Calderon and Ajayi.

Seat 1. Albert Calderon – 8,425,000 (84 bb)
Seat 2. Hunter Cichy – 4,200,000 (42 bb)
Seat 3. Will Nguyen – 6,225,000 (62 bb)
Seat 4. Dapo Ajayi – 8,075,000 (81 bb)
Seat 5. Michael Perrone – 2,225,000 (22 bb)
Seat 6. Viet Vo – 9,750,000 (98 bb)

The WPT Live Reporting team has got you covered all day as we play down to a champion!