Dylan Smith leads stacked WPT SHR Poker Showdown final table

Posted on: April 23, 2024 16:04 PDT

Day 4 of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship started with two tables and after five hours of action, the field is down to six players. Dylan Smith leads the final table with 28.4 million – nearly 30% of the chips in play. The six players will now break until the final table plays out at the HyperX Arena at Luxor in Las Vegas on May 29

“This final table is one of the tougher ones I’ve seen,” Smith said. “Normally there’s at least an amateur or two, but every single person here is a professional. Anything could happen, but I like my spot going into it.”

Meet the field

Smith is trailed by Midwest pro Josh Reichard, the subject of all poker prop bets Landon Tice and Jesse Lonis - who can’t seem to lose lately. Borgata Winter Poker Open champ Alex Queen is at his second big final table of the year and local pro Aaron Kupin likes his spot.

Tice said, “It’s not something I expected but I took every spot for what it was. It’s nice to cash in on all the studying I’ve been doing.”

“Most of my study in the past few years has been solver oriented and machine-based,” Tice continued. “Some guys show up and play live, like straight up G’s, and there’s something to be said for that. I respect it – a lot.”

Queen said, “When the heater calls, you answer the phone. I feel like I can see the Matrix.” Based on that comment, could he follow in Bin Weng’s footsteps after he won Borgata’s January event, then this one on his way to win 2023 Player of the Year?

“Most of my day is spent preparing to be like Bin Weng, so this would fall right in line with doing that exact thing,” Queen said.

Lonis returned to Day 4 with 25 big blinds and he chipped up significantly in the first two levels. “I think all my runouts in the first two hours were out of a movie,” he said. “I have a lot to look forward to this month. I feel like I’m living in a dream, I’m fortunate in every aspect of life right now.”

Kupin’s deep run comes with some travel headaches for him. He has to attend a wedding in Key West the day after the final table. “I have to fly to Vegas, back home and fly back out for the WSOP, but I’m not complaining,” he said. “I’m excited to play and I hear the arena is pretty cool.”

SPECIAL OFFERS

Final table action

Smith pulled away from the field with 11 players left in a hand against Queen. Smith barreled all three streets, with a shove on the river, on a three-heart and paired board. Queen couldn’t call and Smith stacked 26.5 million.

The final table hits pause for now and they’ll return May 29^th at the HyperX Arena at Luxor Las Vegas to play down to a winner. The experienced Dylan Linde bubbled the TV table in seventh place when his pocket tens ran into Reichard’s pocket jacks.

Jackob Datashvili had an early exit in 15^th place after living at the top of the chip counts for most of Day 3. Toby Boas missed out on the final table with an 11^th place run for $69,000 for his second-best WPT cash.

Boas registered his third deep run in consecutive WPT events dating back to November: bestbet Scramble and WPT Voyage. Boas’ final hand came holding and was outflopped by Lonis’ .

Wasim Assaf was the next to go in tenth place, to redraw the field to a single table after his ace high was destroyed by Kupin’s flopped set and turned full house.

Big money up top

The event drew 1,869 entrants across two starting flights for a $5.9 million prize pool. The top 234 players earned at least a min-cash of $6,400. But when they return here’s a breakdown of the payouts:

1^st place - $839,300
2^nd place - $550,000
3^rd place - $410,000
4^th place - $305,000
5^th place - $230,000
6^th place - $176,000

The WPT heads to Oklahoma for the Choctaw Championship on May 3 and then heads north of the border for a series in Montreal that features a WPT 500, a WPT Prime Championship and a Main Tour Championship.