The Money Bubble burst as the WPT World Championship entered the money on Day 4. The unfortunate bubble boy was Hyon Kim, who finished 16th but received nothing to show for it.
When the dust settled at the end of five 90-minute levels, these were the results:
Seat 1. Jonathan Roy – 1,987,000 (66 bb)
Seat 2. David Peters – 858,000 (28 bb)
Seat 3. Erick Lindgren – 2,518,000 (83 bb)
Seat 4. Rocco Palumbo – 680,000 (22 bb)
Seat 5. Brandon Steven – 1,235,000 (41 bb)
Seat 6. Daniel Negreanu – 545,000 (18 bb)
Seat 7. Matt Hyman – 1,940,000 (64 bb)
Seat 8. Chino Rheem – 4,839,000 (161 bb)
9th: Amir Babakhani – $70,300
10th: Sam Goldman – $57,998
11th: Dan Shak – $57,998
12th: Emil Ohlsson – $57,998
13th: Byron Kaverman – $49,210
14th: Steven Silverman – $49,210
15th: Jeffrey Ishbia – $49,210
Chino Rheem (video above) entered the day 21st in chips with 24 players remaining, but he caught fire shortly after the field reached the money to take the chip lead, and he never looked back. Rheem, who won a WPT title here at Bellagio four seasons ago, has nearly twice as many chips as anyone else.
Erick Lindgren finished the day second in chips behind Rheem, but it was not an easy road for him to get there. Lindgren was short-stacked most of the day, and was the shortest stack throughout most of the two-hour Money Bubble. But once Lindgren reached the money, he doubled up twice, including a big hand to cripple Dan Shak.
Lindgren, who has two WPT titles under his belt and was the Season II WPT Player of the Year, is hoping to become just the third player to win three WPT titles, alongside Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen.
Another player seeking his third title is Daniel Negreanu, who was the Season III WPT Player of the Year. Negreanu is on a heater of his own lately, winning the first-ever WSOP-APAC Main Event last month and adding a fourth-place finish in the EPT Grand Final a couple weeks ago.
This season’s WPT Player of the Year race is still undecided, as WPT Montreal champion Jonathan Roy is third in chips and can pass POY points-leader Matt Salsberg if he wins this event. If Roy falls short of a victory, Salsberg will win the Player of the Year title.
With eight players remaining, five of them already have their names engraved on the WPT Champions Cup: Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Rocco Palumbo, Chino Rheem, and Jonathan Roy.
Action resumes tomorrow at 12:00 noon PT, with the blinds at 15,000-30,000 and a 5,000 ante. Rocco Palumbo has the button in seat 4, and action will pick up right where it left off this evening.
Tune in to WPT Live Updates tomorrow for complete hand-for-hand coverage as they battle for the six seats at the televised WPT Final Table.