Eric Afriat sits in pole position as the World Poker Tour(WPT) World Championship Day 3 ended with 18 players remaining from the 328 entrants. Eric Afriat, the newest member of the WTP Champions Club, thanks to his win at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown last week had a great day at the Borgata Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City and leads with more than 2 Million chips.
Afriat also had the lead in Day 2 and a good day 3 meant that he will headline his way to the Final table when play resumes in a couple of hours. Just about two tables are left in activity now with 18 runners vying for the top prize and the prestigious WPT Trophy. While Afriat is the only one with more than 2 million chips, others with around 1 Million chips include Abraham Korotki (1.616 million), Tony Gregg, (1.499 million), Ryan D’Angelo (1.369 million), and Curt Kohlberg (1.097 million). Also among the final 18 players are Justin Young, Byron Kaverman, Keven Stammen, Brock Parker, and WPT Raw Deal Analyst and Champions Club member Tony Dunst.
The money bubble also burst on Day 3 as the final 36 were ensured an ITM finish. And the bubble was quite an interesting and sudden one. With 38 remaining, the nerves were still to get in play when Nick Schulman and Michael Lavoie were eliminated at the exact same time on two different tables. This happened right before dinner break and came as relief to several small stacks.
from there on it was a quick journey to the final 18 as Athanasios Polychronopoulos (34th, $30,085), Brian Yoon (33rd, $30,085),Matt Stout (30th, $30,085), Loni Harwood (29th, $30,085), Club WPT winner David Daggett (22nd, $33,967), Scott Seiver (21st, $33,967), and Jeff Madsen (19th, $33,967) went down.
The final 18 will return to play on Friday and will then play down to a six-handed FT. Will Afriat maintain his lead?
Come back for more updates on the WPT World Championship, the final stop of Season XII of the World poker tour.