Double Elimination Leaves Five-Handed WPT Final Table at Foxwoods

Wednesday marks the conclusion of the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic. Traditionally, WPT final tables are played six-handed. However, a rare double elimination on the final hand on Tuesday leaves just five players.

Attendance at this year’s Foxwoods Poker Classic was down 25%, but there was no shortage of action at the Connecticut casino. On the final hand of the night, the number of players went from seven to five when Joe Raposa and Bill Botchis were both eliminated by Vadim Trincher, who holds a commanding chip lead over the field as a result.

Blinds were 12,000-24,000 when the double elimination occurred. Trincher raised to five times the big blind under the gun. Botchis shoved for 193,000 and Raposa pushed over the top for 248,000. Trincher called holding pocket aces and had both covered. Botchis and Raposa each turned over pocket pairs of their own, nines and jacks, respectively. The board came 8-7-5-2-7 and Trincher’s aces held. Suddenly, just five players remained.

This is only the second time in WPT history that a final table has started with five players. The other was during the Season VI WPT Celebrity Invitational, which was won by Van Nguyen. The cards will hit the air at 4:00pm ET today, with the winner taking home over $700,000. Here is a look at the chip counts as they stand entering the final table:

1. Vadim Trincher - 2,813,000
2. Amnon Filippi - 1,852,000
3. Matthew Casterella - 1,808,000
4. Lenny Cortellino - 1,175,000
5. Alex Perelberg - 200,000

Trincher took 132nd in the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, turning his $10,000 buy-in into $58,000. Filippi is perhaps the most experienced player remaining at the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic final table. He finished fourth in the 2007 HORSE Championship at the WSOP for $586,000 and owns nearly $700,000 in lifetime earnings from WSOP tournaments. This is his fourth WPT final table. He grabbed fourth in the Season IV Borgata Poker Classic for $184,000, sixth in the Season VI Mirage Poker Showdown for $100,000, and fifth in the Season VII Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, which took place in December, for $288,000.

Places six through ten at Foxwoods were as follows:

6th Place: Joe Raposa - $85,292
7th Place: William Botchis - $68,235
8th Place: Lee Markholt - $54,830
9th Place: Allen Kessler - $46,315
10th Place: Tony Gargano - $40,209

Markholt’s tournament run ended after he was crippled holding pocket jacks against pocket kings on an eight-high board against Trincher; he was ousted from the event shortly thereafter. Markholt finished fourth in the WSOP Circuit Event Championship in Tunica in 2006, cashing for $183,000. Kessler was the runner up to Todd Brunson in a $2,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Eight or Better WSOP tournament in 2005, pocketing $132,000. He made the final table of the Foxwoods Poker Classic two years ago and took third in the WPT Invitational during Season IV.

Other notable in the money finishes included:

12th Place: Barry Greenstein - $40,209
15th Place: David Williams - $34,117
24th Place: Charlie Marchese - $23,150
30th Place: Evan McNiff - $20,713

First place will pay out $731,079, second place pockets $409,405, third place will take home $214,449, fourth place will earn $138,905, and fifth place scores $106,007. The champion at Foxwoods will also take home a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Championship, which kicks off in ten days from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Preliminary tournaments for the prestigious end of season event are already running, keeping many of the West Coast pros in Sin City instead of traveling to Foxwoods.

Stay tuned to Poker News Daily to see who wins!

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Useful poker information:

FLAT LIMIT - A variant of fixed limit where all bets are the same amount.
TABLE STAKES - A standard rule whereby during a hand players can only bet the money they have on the table. If the bet to a player is more than the player's stack, that player may call with all his chips and be eligible to win only that portion of the pot he contributed to equally. A side pot is created, for which only the remaining players may compete.
LOOSE - Playing more hands than the norm. Antonym: TIGHT.
HOOK - A Jack. So named because the "J" resembles a hook.
MIDDLE POSITION - Betting positions approximately halfway around the table from the first player to act.
BIG BOBTAIL - An open-ended 4-card straight flush.

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