WPT Prague Day 3: Stanislaw Kretz Looks Dominant

Day 3 has come and gone at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prague and we are down to the final table. Entering the day, 62 of the 571 original players still remained, and while it took until the wee hours of the morning, the field was narrowed all the way to just the six players who now form the televised final table. Leading the way is Germany’s Stanislaw Kretz, who had as dominant a day as one can see in a World Poker Tour event.

Kretz started out the day in good, but not amazing shape, sitting in 18th place with 345,000 chips. Very nice, but still a far cry from the chip leaders. It didn’t take him long, though, to start his climb.

His first big move came during level 20 with blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/1,000. Canada’s Chris McClung opened the pre-flop betting with a raise to 25,000, Kretz followed with a re-raise to 58,000, and McClung fired back with a four-bet to 142,000. Kretz left well enough alone and just called to bring on a flop of Jc-8h-8s. McClung fired out a bet of 140,000 this time and Kretz once again called. Both players checked when the 5c was dealt on the turn, but when the 5d landed on the river, McClung shoved and Kretz insta-called. And it’s no wonder – Kretz held pocket Jacks, giving him a flopped full house. McClung didn’t even bother showing his cards and made his way to the exit. That hand made Kretz the chip leader with a 1.9 million chip stack.

Kretz continued to take pot after pot after pot throughout Day 3 and scooped another monster near the final table bubble. With 12 players remaining, Denis Pisarev moved all-in pre-flop for about half a million chips, followed by an over-the-top push from Tobias Reinkemeier for 800,000. Kretz apparently liked the looks of this from his position in a blind, so he called him both. It could have been better for Kretz, but not by much. The chip leader had A-K dominating both Pisarev’s K-Q and Reinkemeier’s A-J. Neither the Jack nor Queen landed on the board and Kretz had himself a double knockout, plus a chip stack that now reached 5.2 million.

From there, he continued to cruise, eliminated the 7th and 8th place finishers to narrow the field to six and establish the television final table. While he has the largest stack by far at 6.3 million chips, he hasn’t completely run away with it yet, as Benjamin Pollak has a very healthy stack of 4.865 million. After him, though, only one other player has even 2 million chips, so it looks like Monday might be a two person battle.

Regardless of how the final table turns out, to say this will be Kretz’s biggest live tournament achievement would be an understatement. He only has one cash on his record, a small $1,476 take in February 2010. Even if he is the first to bomb out on Monday, he will still win $84,807, but he is certainly eyeing the big prize of $630,263.

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Poker glossary:

LIVE BLIND - The last and largest blind bet may or may not be LIVE. If LIVE, the blind bettor has the option of "raising" his own blind in the event the bet is called around to him. This is normal, and is sometimes referred to as "blinds are live".
FULL HOUSE - A hand consisting of 3-of-a-kind and a (different) pair.
LATE POSITION - For a particular betting round, a player who does not have to act until most of the other players have acted.
AMERICAN AIRLINES - In Hold'em, a pair of Aces in the hole. Better known (at least in rec.gambling) as POCKET ROCKETS.
OVERCALL - To call a bet after one or more players already called.
RAINBOW - In flop games, a flop in which no two cards are of the same suit. "The flop was A 9 7 rainbow."

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