In nine seasons of the World Poker Tour (WPT), no player has ever won the same tournament twice. Come tonight, the curse may be broken, as 2009 Southern Poker Championship winner Allen Carter owns the second largest stack entering the final table of the 2011 installment.
Carter and five other players remain in the hunt for the $601,000 first place prize and each person left standing is assured at least $89,000. Carter and Alexander Kuzmin pace the field, each holding about 1.9 million in chips, while the rest of the table has just 2.5 million combined. Will lightning finally strike twice on the WPT? Or will the two-time jinx remain intact? The action resumes this afternoon at 4:00pm CT from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
B.J. McBrayer was the Southern Poker Championship’s Final Table Bubble Boy after he was eliminated in seventh place. McBrayer committed his final 10 big blinds with A-6 offsuit and was ahead of Kuzmin’s K-Q of hearts. Both players caught a piece of the Q-6-4 flop, but a running 2-7 was no help to McBrayer, who picked up $67,000 in his first ever WPT cash.
Otis Wright was bumped in eighth place. Kuzmin 3bet all-in on a flop of K-9-4 with two spades and Wright called for his tournament life with pocket aces. Kuzmin tabled K-9 for top two pair and a running 5-10 left Wright without chips. He collected $49,000 and in part allowed Kuzmin to enter today’s final table with the chip lead at 1.97 million, or 197 big blinds. Carter is at 1.93 million (193 big blinds) to set up what should be an eventful finale.
Carter helped his cause by doubling up through Shannon Shorr late in the day when play was eight-handed. Shorr pushed all-in on a flop of A-4-2 with two hearts and Carter called all-in, tabling pocket deuces for a set. Shorr showed pocket fives for a gutshot straight draw and a pair, but didn’t connect when the turn was a seven and the river was a queen. Shorr fell from the chip lead to seventh, but nevertheless managed to make the final table with a stack of 663,000.
Reigning Southern Poker Championship winner Hoyt Corkins, a sponsored pro of DoylesRoom, hit the skids in 19th place as yesterday’s first casualty. Corkins got his chips in with pocket tens against A-K for a race and the board ran out Q-Q-9-K-8. Hughes connected with a king on the turn and Corkins departed with $18,000 in cash. Corkins’ victory last year was worth $739,000 and he has nearly $3.5 million in career WPT earnings.
Also bowing out on Wednesday was PokerStars pro Chad Brown, who ran K-Q into Bobby Keller’s A-Q on his final hand. Both players flopped a queen, but Keller’s ace kicker played to take out the heralded poker pro. Following Brown’s 16th place finish, his better half, Vanessa Rousso, Tweeted, “Congrats to my guy @Downtownchad for coming in 16th at the WPT Biloxi! I miss u and can’t wait to see u soon baby!” Cute.
Here’s how the stacks will look entering today’s final table in the WPT Southern Poker Championship:
1. Alexander Kuzmin – 1,969,000
2. Allen Carter – 1,928,000
3. Ryan Hughes – 840,000
4. Leif Force – 674,000
5. Shannon Shorr – 663,000
6. Patrick Mahoney – 394,000
The blinds were at 5,000-10,000 with an ante of 1,000 when play came to a halt last night. Here are the prizes up for grabs:
First Place: $601,469
Second Place: $315,790
Third Place: $218,471
Fourth Place: $144,985
Fifth Place: $113,208
Sixth Place: $89,375
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the results.
