The final table is set in the Season XVII WPT Gardens Poker Festival, with just six players remaining from a field of 584 entries. Simon Lam is making his second WPT final table appearance, and he leads the way with 6.115 million in chips. The final table players are guaranteed $115,000, with $565,000 and a Mercedes-Benz up top for the winner.
Lam played solid poker all day long on Day 4 and steadily worked his way up the leaderboard. As the hours ticked past midnight and into the early morning of Thursday, Lam was just about tied with Men Nguyen for the lead. Then, Lam busted Tuan Phan in eighth place to vault into sole possession of the lead.
On that hand, Lam had three-bet to 310,000 after Jesse Yaginuma raised to 135,000. The blinds were 30,000-60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante at the time, and Yaginuma was in early position and Lam in the hijack seat. Play moved to Phan, who four-bet jammed for 1.29 million from the button. Everyone folded back to Lam, he thought about the hand, then called with the 
. Phan had him beat with the 
. The flop, turn, and river came 
and Lam made a set of tens to bust Phan.
Yaginuma would later fall in seventh place to Saya Ono and set the official WPT Gardens Main Event final table.
WPT Gardens Main Event Final Table
Seat 1: Simon Lam – 6,115,000
Seat 2: Craig Varnell – 1,955,000
Seat 3: Jake Schindler – 4,045,000
Seat 4: Jared Griener – 3,875,000
Seat 5: Saya Ono – 3,445,000
Seat 6: Men Nguyen – 3,935,000
Jake Schindler is at his third WPT Main Tour final table, whereas Jared Griener is at his second WPT Main Tour final table. Craig Varnell is looking to add a WPT title to his WPT500 Las Vegas title, Ono is aiming to become the second woman to win an open event on the WPT Main Tour, and Nguyen is at his fourth WPT Main Tour final table.
Day 4 began with 46 players returning. Among the group were WPT Champions Club members Marvin Rettenmaier, Ryan Tosoc, and Mike Del Vecchio, all searching for another WPT title to add to their trophy case. Del Vecchio fell first, busting in 40th place, and then Tosoc went out the door in 25th. Rettenmaier made the deepest run of the WPT Champions Club, but ultimately fell short with an 18th-place result.
Kitty Kuo was the other female player joining Ono on Day 4 of the event, and she was looking for another WPT final table appearance after finishing runner-up to Darren Elias in last season’s WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic. Kuo made it all the way to the final two tables, but busted in 10th place.
Aaron and Ralph Massey were two brothers returning for Day 4 and looking to make a truly legendary run to the final table if they could both make it. Unfortunately for them, Ralph went out in 24th place and Aaron followed in 20th.
The final table kicks off at 4 p.m. local time on Thursday at the Gardens Casino. Coverage will be provided right here on WPT.com, plus the event will be streaming on the WPT’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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