The six-handed final table is set at the 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) Jacksonville bestbet Open Main Event and with 2,792,000 chips, Nabil Hirezi is in the driver’s seat. As expected, Day 3 was short, lasting only about five and a half hours, as only 13 eliminations were needed to get down to the final table.
Hirezi has already guaranteed the largest cash of his live tournament career. With only six players remaining, he is going to make at least $38,241, a number which could escalate to $206,041 if he were to win the whole shebang. According to TheHendonMob.com, his largest payday came in August 2011 when he finished eighth in the WPT Regional Main Event for $16,181, an event which was, coincidentally, in Jacksonville. In his career, he has only won $45,875, so if he can survive one more elimination, he will more than double his lifetime earnings.
There are other players at the final table with a more impressive track record than Hirezi (though his is nothing to sneeze at – most of us would LOVE to have won $45,000 playing poker). James Calderaro, currently in second place with 1,916,000 chips, won the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in February, which was the last WPT event held in Jacksonville. Jordan Cristos has also won a WPT title, taking the 2013 Legends of Poker crown. And Faraz Jaka, in fifth place with 542,000 chips, has won almost $3 million on the live poker tournament circuit and was the WPT Season VIII Player of the Year.
Oftentimes, the chip leader late in a tournament gets there via one big hand. Hirezi didn’t really have one significant hand of which to speak, but rather several moderately-sized pots that built up his stack. He was a one-man wrecking crew as the final table approached. Hirezi eliminated Kevin Choe in eleventh place to grow his stack to 1,225,000. Shortly after taking over 400,000 from Cristos, he knocked out Ali Alawadhi in ninth place, elevating his stack to 2,170,000. And then, on the final table bubble, Hirezi eliminated Bryan Irish-Jones in seventh place.
Absent from the final table is Jared Jaffee, the chip leader going into Monday’s action, who was seeking back-to-back WPT titles at bestbet Jacksonville.
The final table of the WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open Main Event will commence at 2:00pm ET, as opposed to noon, which was the starting time for previous days. WPT.com will stream the tournament on a 30 minute delay starting at 2:30pm.
2014 World Poker Tour Jacksonville bestbet Open Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Nabil Hirezi – 2,792,000
2. James Calderaro – 1,916,000
3. Peter Le – 1,083,000
4. Jordan Cristos – 975,000
5. Faraz Jaka – 542,000
6. Brian Green – 444,000
* Tournament updates and information provided by wpt.com.
