The final table of the Season XV Monster WPT Tournament of Champions was set on Saturday night, and six players will return on Sunday for the conclusion of this exclusive, season-ending event.
Daniel Weinman (pictured above), winner of the Season XV WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, led the way with a stack of 872,000 in chips, while Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is his closest competitor with 699,000.
Season XV Monster WPT Tournament of Champions Final Table
Seat 1: Michael Mizrachi – 699,000
Seat 2: Daniel Weinman – 872,000
Seat 3: David Ormsby – 299,000
Seat 4: Daniel Santoro – 250,000
Seat 5: Erik Seidel – 540,000
Seat 6: Dylan Wilkerson – 641,000
Mizrachi (pictured below) entered Day 2 with the chip lead, and the two-time WPT champion was eyeing a back-to-back appearance at the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions final table. Last season, Mizrachi finished third in this event for $140,450.
Weinman entered the day 10th in chips out of the 30 players that remained from the starting field of 66. Weinman hung around the top of the pack throughout most of the day, but had to overcome a bump in the road when Dylan Wilkerson doubled through him on the money bubble with 10 players left. Shortly after, Lee Markholt was eliminated in 10th place.
Markholt was all in with the 
on the 
flop against Mizrachi. Mizrachi had the 
. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
, pairing the board but giving Mizrachi a heart flush. That meant the remaining nine players were in the money, and it also vaulted Mizrachi into the lead.
Nine-handed play took 23 hands before Jonathan Jaffe, last year’s Monster WPT Tournament of Champions fourth-place finisher, was eliminated in ninth place at the hands of Mizrachi. But even though he won that pot, Mizrachi had fallen out of the lead and Weinman had taken over.
Then, Erik Seidel found a double through Jesse Sylvia just a few hands after Jaffe busted, and the clash left Sylvia with just over 10 big blinds. Sylvia busted on the next hand to Seidel.
With seven players left, the field was on the official televised WPT final table bubble.
In Level 18, with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante, Dylan Wilkerson opened with a raise to 22,000 from early position. Mizrachi made the call from the hijack seat, and then Stefan Schillhabel moved all in from the small blind for 140,000. Wilkerson reraised all in over the top, and Mizrachi folded.
Schillhabel turned over the 
, and Wilkerson had the 
. It was a coin flip with a lot on the line for all sevens players — either Schillhabel would stay alive with a double, or the other six players would reach the televised final table.
The flop, turn, and river ran out 
, and Wilkerson’s tens stayed in front. Schillhabel was out in seventh place for $49,050, and the final six players had locked up a seat at Sunday’s final table. Wilkerson bagged up the third-largest stack at 641,000 in chips.
Joining Weinman and Mizrachi at the final table was Erik Seidel, winner of the Season VI WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic for $992,890 and a player currently second on poker’s all-time money list with more than $31.6 million in live tournament earnings. Seidel took 540,000 into the final table.
Rounding out the final table was David Ormsby and Daniel Santoro, with 299,000 and 250,000 in chips, respectively. Ormsby won the Season XIV WPT Fallsview Poker Classic for C$383,407 ($278,426), and Santoro won the Season X WPT Foxwood World Poker Finals for $449,910.
The final table takes place on Sunday, April 9 starting at 4 p.m. ET. The final table will be streamed on a 30-minute delay in multiple languages, including English, Chinese, Dutch, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.
For real-time coverage, you may follow along in our live blog on WPT.com.