Darren Elias, a three-time WPT Main Tour Main Event winner, is looking to make history at the bestbet Jacksonville poker room by scooping a record fourth title. The player finished Day 3 of the tournament with massive chip advantage over his opponents and will be leading the remaining survivors into the final day of play.
Elias bagged and tagged 3.547 million on Tuesday night and is over a million ahead of the player who ranked second in chips. It was John Esposito who collected the second largest stack of the night, one that was worth 2.236 million.
Elias’ Performance during Day 3 of the $5,000 Main Event
Elias entered the penultimate day of action fifth in chips among 23 survivors. The player quickly gained pace and expanded his stack in a matter of minutes. However, despite the strong start, the player had his ups and downs throughout the day. At some point, he reduced his stack to just 19 big blinds.
Elias rapidly regained momentum at that focal point in play when the remaining players were moved to a single table. The player doubled through another member of the WPT Champions Club, the two-time Main Event title winner Sam Panzica. Another double up for Elias occurred a few hands later and through Alex Rocha.
Elias eventually emerged as the chip leader at the time there were eight players left at the table. During seven-handed play Panzica doubled through Elias, but the latter quickly recovered by busting Kirk Corson in seventh place and setting the official six-handed final table.
Here it is interesting to note that Elias is one of just five players to have won three Main Event titles from WPT tournaments, the other four being Anthony Zinno, Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, and Chino Rheem. If the player wins the bestbet Jacksonville Main Event, he will be the absolute record breaker with four WPT titles.
Sam Panzica’s Own Attempt to Make History
Panzica is the other player at the final table who will try to make history today when action resumes. He is the defending champion of this same tournament and if he emerges victorious today, he will become the first player in WPT’s history to have ever won the same event twice. Panzica will enter six-handed play fourth in chips with a stack of 1.051 million.
Play is set to resume at 4 pm local time at bestbet Jacksonville. Each of the six players will be guaranteed a minimum cash of $55,191. They will play down to a winner who will scoop $315,732 in prize money, including a ticket to the $15,000 buy-in WPT Tournament of Champions.
Here are all six finalists and their respective chip counts:
Darren Elias – 3.547 million
John Esposito – 2.236 million
Paul Petraglia – 1.698 million
Sam Panzica – 1.051 million
Gaurav Raina – 0.831 million
Shankar Pillai – 0.344 million
