Chino Rheem, a member of the elite club of three-time WPT champs, now eyes another poker summit to attain
He 865-strong starting field of the PCA $10,000 Main Event is now down to its final six players. The six finalists will square off for the title and the first-place prize of more than $1.5 million later today. Each of them is guaranteed a minimum cash of $297,020, but the top prize is certainly what they are all vying for.
Chino Rheem, a player with an already impressive poker portfolio, will lead the way into the final day of action. The US poker pro started off with 1.425 million on Tuesday at the host casino to build a solid chip stack of 7.55 million by the end of the day and to secure himself with a comfortable advantage and entry into the finale.
While it was Canadian Tommy Nguyen who entered the penultimate day of the Main Event as the chip leader, it was Rheem who dominated action yesterday. The player made the right calls, stepped up pressure where that was need and kept quiet when he had to. All the right moves and a little bit of luck rocketed him to the top of the temporary leaderboard.
Rheem was part of the first-ever WSOP Main Event November Nine. The player finished 7th in the 2008 edition of the prestigious tournament for a cash prize of $1.77 million. It is also important to note that he is one of few players to have won three World Poker Tour titles.
The Lucky Six
The final table of the 2019 PCA Main Event includes international presence and players of different levels of poker skill. Trailing behind Rheem in the chip counts chart is Canada’s Scott Wellenbach with 6.015 million in chips.
American poker pros Brian Altman and Daniel Strelitz bagged the third and fourth largest stacks last night, good for 4.995 million and 2.355 million, respectively.
Spain’s Vincent Bosca and Ukraine’s Pavel Veksler round out the final table. Bosca bagged and tagged 2.875 million last night, while Veksler put 2.035 million worth of chips in his bag. It can be said that the two players are the least known among the final six, but that certainly does not mean they lack the skills to outwit their more accomplished final tablists.
Bosca was actually the player to set the final table when he eliminated Mihai Manole, the first Platinum Pass winner into the PokerStars Players Championship. While he did not cash in the inaugural edition of the largest-ever $25,000 tournament, Manole scooped $208,920 for his seventh-place finish in the Main Event.
Notables who failed to reach the final table last night included German high roller Christoph Vogelsang, start-of-the-day chip leader Tommy Nguyen, and Jeffrey Hakim.
The final day of the Main Event is set to kick off today at 1 pm local time. The six finalists will play down to a champion who will claim the title, the tournament trophy and the $1.5 million first-place prize.
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