The 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event’s penultimate day is in the books as the six-handed final table has been determined. 33 players entered Monday’s Day 3, all at least comforted by the fact that they had cash, but it was only six who made it to Day 4. It is a close race at the top of the leaderboard as Dimas Martinez, Jr. is head of the class with 3,558,000 chips with Shannon Shorr close behind with 3,478,000.
Keven Stammen, the chip leader entering Day 3, is still alive, but he actually has fewer chips than he did to start Monday’s action. As such, he is the fifth stack with 826,000 chips.
Both Martinez and Shorr built their stacks throughout the day mainly by consistently being amidst the action and winning more than they lost. Neither had a hand that rocket-propelled them up the leaderboard until late, when the field was down to just a single table of ten players. Shorr’s big one came on just the third hand of the unofficial final table when he called a 670,000 chip all-in by Corrie Wunstel. Wunstel had pocket 8’s, but Shorr had pocket 9’s, not something Wunstel wanted to see. Shorr flopped a 9 and though Wunstel had a remote shot at a back-door flush, it never materialized and he was eliminated in tenth place. That pot took Shorr’s stack up to 3,170,000.
Martinez’s score was on Hand 12 of the then eight-handed final table, immediately after he won over 400,000 with an 8-high straight. In this hand, James Calderaro, the man he just victimized, raised to 55,000. Martinez and Tim Kegel called. On the flop of A-T-6, Kegel checked, Calderaro bet 100,000, Martinez called, and Kegel folded. Calderaro check-called a 150,000 chip bet after a 2 was dealt on the turn and again check-called a 266,000 chip bet from Martinez on the river 3. Martinez revealed pocket 6’s for flopped set and Calderaro mucked. At that point, Martinez’s stack was up to 3,100,000. Calderaro remained unfazed, though, and enters the Day 4 in third place.
The first player eliminated at Tuesday’s final table will take home over $54,000. Six-figures starts at third place, which pays $122,197, while the winner will receive $271,103. It’s not the grandest of World Poker Tour paydays, but it is still more than a quarter-million dollars and it is still a World Poker Tour
Title, something that any poker player would love to have.
2014 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Dimas Martinez, Jr. – 3,558,000
2. Shannon Shorr – 3,478,000
3. James Calderaro – 2,649,000
4. Tim Kegel – 1,271,000
5. Keven Stammen – 826,000
6. Evan Dollinger – 684,000
