Zinno Makes Choctaw Final Table, Could Tie Elias at Four WPT Wins
For some time, a handful of players shared the record for most World Poker Tour titles, knotted at the top with three. Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen and Chino Rheem were in a deadlock, but given that Zinno, Elias and Rheem had all gotten their third titles in the past few years and remain active on the tour, it seemed only a matter of time before one broke through with four.
Elias did it at the beginning of the summer when he took down the new WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic, claiming the record for his own.
However, his status as the sole WPT king is already under fire. Zinno has made a run of his own in the second WPT event of the new season, WPT Choctaw, advancing to the official final table of six players.
As the shortest stack remaining, Zinno has plenty of work ahead of him if he's going to match Elias:
WPT Choctaw Official Final Table
| Seat | Player | Stack | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brady Holiman | 10,840,000 | 108 |
| 2 | Christopher Smith | 4,495,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Timothy Domboski | 5,300,000 | 53 |
| 4 | Tony Ruberto | 2,675,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Anthony Zinno | 2,245,000 | 22 |
| 6 | Viet Vo | 4,770,000 | 47 |
Zinno's Day 3
Grinding the short stack isn't something that's going to discourage Zinno, as it's the very situation in which he found himself coming into Day 3 of the event with just 16 big blinds, according to the live updates.
However, Zinno found an early double with kings against the pocket sixes of fellow final table participant Timothy Domboski to get healthy and rolling with 30 players remaining.
Shortly after that, with 19 players remaining, Zinno would put his tournament life at risk again and score another double. This time, he open-shoved 19 big blinds with ace-queen in middle position and ran into the pocket tens of Edwin Pairavi. The flop brought the ace that Zinno needed, and he then picked up queens against Pairavi's nines to finish him off and move to a strong 2 million at 15,000/30,000/30,000.
Zinno's image was even good enough to get Tony Ruberto to muck ace-king to him after an open to 100,000 and Ruberto's three-bet to 300,000 led to a cold four-bet ship from Zinno for 2.4 million at 20,000/40,000/40,000.
From there, it seemed Zinno mostly avoided any huge spots to end up hanging around with 22 big blinds as the final table is set to go down today.
In the mean time, Brady Holiman built a huge stack and will go into the final table with a big lead toting 10,840,000 at 50,000/100,000/100,000. No other player has even half of that count, as second-place Domboski sits with 5.3 million.
Zinno on the WPT
Back in late May, Zinno spoke with PokerNews following Elias' win that removed his name from the record books.
"It would have been cool to be the first to get to four," he said. "But hey, it's extra motivation to keep working hard. I think I'll eventually still get four."
Keep working he evidently has. Given his results so far on the tour — the East Coast native has amassed $2.7 million and three titles despite only getting his first cash in 2013 — he's certainly the man to watch at this final table despite his status as the shortest stack.
Anthony Zinno's WPT Wins
| Year | Event | Players | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Borgata Poker Open | 1,189 | $825,099 |
| 2015 | Fallsview Poker Classic | 419 | $302,235 |
| 2015 | L.A. Poker Classic | 538 | $1,015,860 |
To keep an eye on Zinno's progress, head on over to the WPT's live updates as the final table gets going at noon local time.
