The final 14 players returned to the Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for one more day of play before tomorrow’s final table and in only a few hours, pared down to the remaining six. Pavel Plesuv is out in front with 10.92 million chips and the favorite to claim the $504,820 first-place prize along with a seat to the season-ending Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.
Play started with Brett Apter departing in 14th place followed by Jeff Yarchever in 13th, Tom Burandt in 12th, start of Day 3 chip leader John DuBois in 11th, and Alan Schein in 10th.
Plesuv won the biggest flip of the tournament to bust James Rann in ninth place. Close to 20 percent of the total chips in play were up for grabs when Rann called off with 
against the 
of Plesuv. The board ran out jack-high with no spades and Plesuv built upon that lead to claim the yellow jersey among the final tablists.
Major League Soccer’s Brent Kallman of Minnesota United FC departed in eighth place to end his run to be the first active professional athlete to win a WPT title.
Roberto Bendeck busted in seventh place when his 
failed to improve against the 
of Jeremy Joseph. Bendeck collected his $79,650 payout and the final table was set.
Plesuv is trailed by Season XIV WPT Borgata Poker Open final tablist Jim Gilbert, who is the only other player above 100 big blinds. Although short-stacked, Ravi Raghavan leads the final table in pedigree based on his win in the Season XI WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Christopher Kennedy, Jeremy Joseph, and Marius Gierse all hold respectable poker resumes and add to them this week with their respective first WPT final table.
Below is the seat draw for the start of the final table.
Seat 1. Christopher Kennedy – 3,800,000 (48 bb)
Seat 2. Jim Gilbert – 8,655,000 (108 bb)
Seat 3. Pavel Plesuv – 10,920,000 (137 bb)
Seat 4. Jeremy Joseph – 5,045,000 (63 bb)
Seat 5. Ravi Raghavan – 1,320,000 (17 bb)
Seat 6. Marius Gierse – 6,180,000 (77 bb)
The final table starts at 12 p.m. local time on Wednesday, with all remaining players guaranteed a payout of $103,310. There is a live stream of the event starting at 12:30 p.m on PokerGO.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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