It’s getting down to it now at the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. Day 3 started with 54 players remaining, all already in the money, and after a relatively snug 9 hours, just 18 players still had chips in front of them. Two tables left. And leading the quest for the final table is Noah Schwartz, owner of 1.77 million chips. It is a tenuous lead for Schwartz, though, as Dan Kelly is breathing down his neck, just one big blind behind.
Schwartz was relatively quiet for about two-thirds of the day, dropping over 100,000 from his starting stack of 685,000, but then climbing up to over 800,000 after a while. We’ll let Schwartz himself explain how he made it over the 1 million chip hump. Via Twitter:
“Just won 2 flips in a row vs short stacks 88 vs KJ then JJ vs AK over the 1 million chip pleateau”
His big hand, though, came just after the field had been narrowed to three tables. He raised pre-flop from late position to 27,000 (blinds and antes were 6,000/12,000/2,000 and called the subsequent re-raise to 102,000 by Larry Lipman. The flop of 5c-4c-3s had all sorts of possibilities, as was even more evident b the ensuing raise war. Lipman led out for 130,000, Schwartz raised to 284,000, Lipman dialed it up to 484,000, and Schwartz proclaimed himself all-in. Lipman asked for a count, saw he was covered, and finally made the call, showing Ah-Kd for a gut-shot straight draw and two overcards. He could forget the overcards, though, as Schwartz revealed two red Threes, good for bottom set. Schwartz nailed down the hand on the turn, as the 4h gave him an unbeatable full house. Larry Lipman was eliminated in 27th and Noah Schwartz rocketed up to 2.127 million chips.
Schwartz saw his stack elevate to over 2.3 million, but wasn’t able to keep the momentum going, doubling-up David “Doc” Sands late to drop down to about where he is going into Day 4.
Other notables with a shot at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic title include Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt, Jason Somerville, David “The Dragon” Pham, 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, and 2009 WPT Southern Poker Championship winner Allen Carter.
Day 4 of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic will pick up at noon PST on Tuesday. The field will be whittled from its current size of 18 all the way down to the six players who will comprise the televised final table. Everyone currently remaining will make at least $39,530, but whoever is left at the end of the night will lay claim to a minimum of $202,910.
World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic – End of Day 4 Chip Counts
1. Noah Schwartz – 1,770,000
2. Dan Kelly – 1,749,000
3. A.J. Jejelowo – 1,573,000
4. Stephen Chidwick – 1,420,000
5. Jason Dewitt – 1,182,000
6. Sean Jazayeri – 1,126,000
7. Jason Somerville – 1,025,000
8. David Pham – 855,000
9. David Sands – 819,000
10. Joe Hachem – 700,000
11. Elvis Huynh – 675,000
12. Skip Wilson – 625,000
13. Jason Burt – 609,000
14. Sorel Mizzi – 600,000
15. Allen Carter – 580,000
16. Nick Binger – 565,000
17. Daniel Idema – 433,000
18. Shahen Martirosian – 236,000
