WPT Playground Championship Final Table Set; Michael Wang Gets “Monkey Off Back”
Day 3 of the CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship had 53 players from the 840-entry field return to action, but by the end of the night just the final table of six remained with Baron Ha and his stack of 11,625,000 leading the way.
Another player returning is poker pro Michael Wang (lead image), who has been traveling the world recently for poker and opted to make a pitstop at Playground on his way back home to Las Vegas.
“I'm glad I came. I was kind of on the fence between coming here and just going home,” he admitted. It was a proud moment for Wang, who has been playing the WPT for over a decade but has never made a final table.
"Feeling like I got a little bit of a monkey off my back because I've been playing WPT for like a bajillion years and I've never gotten to the final six,” he shared. “I came close, I got 7th and 9th, but it was a first for me. Feeling like I already won something even though I’m trying to get a little bit more. There's still a lot of work to be done.”
All the remaining players are guaranteed CAD $84,000 (US $60,464) in prize money but of course, everyone is aiming to etch their name on the Mike Sexton’s Champions Cup and claim the CAD $412,300 (US $296,779) top prize, which also comes with a seat in the WPT World Championship.
WPT Playground Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baron Ha | 11,625,000 (78 bb) |
| 2 | Amirpasha Emami | 3,100,000 (21 bb) |
| 3 | Jordan Grant | 9,200,000 (61 bb) |
| 4 | Santiago Plante | 4,700,000 (31 bb) |
| 5 | Zachary Fischer | 5,675,000 (38 bb) |
| 6 | Michael Wang | 7,625,000 (51 bb) |
At the start of the day, all eyes were on four-time WPT champ Darren Elias, who was looking for his record-extending fifth title. He faced an uphill battle coming in short-stacked, and ultimately his run ended in 31st place for $14,756.
According to the live updates, Elias fell in Level 23 (20,000/40,000/40,000) when he raised to 200,000 from the cutoff and left himself a paltry 15,000 behind. Bradley Ellis then moved in from the big blind and Elias burned some time extensions before calling off.
Darren Elias: K?4?
Bradley Ellis: 8?8?
Elias was in need of some help, primarily a king, but the only thing he got on the 2?A?Q? flop was backdoor straight and flush draws. The 4? turn left him looking to pair either of his whole cards on the river, but it didn’t happen as the J? peeled off.
Others to fall on Day 3 were Salomon Benarroch (12th - $25,553), Adam Cader (15th - $22,674), Dominic Lussier (20th - $17,276), Senthuran Vijayaratnam (26th - $14,756), Michael Khan (35th - $12,453), Zak VanKeuren (43rd - $10,365), and Duff Charette (48th - $8,782).
For Vijayaratnam, it was the culmination of back-to-back deep tournament runs. Days earlier he had finished fifth out of 1,587 entrants in the CAD $1,100 WPT Playground Prime Championship for US $46,253 and immediately jumped into CAD $5,300 WPT Prime Championship. He made it deep into Day 3 before ultimately losing a flip with pocket fives to the ace-king of Ari Shin. Vijayaratnam finished 26th out of 840 entries for $14,756.
The final nine players combined down to a single table, but three of them needed to go before the official final table. Connor Daynard, the 25-year-old electrician apprentice profiled by PokerNews here, was the first to go in ninth place for $28,433 after losing ace-right to the king-queen of Baron Ha, and then Georgees Zero exited in eighth place for $35,991.
In the final hand of the night, which was Hand #63, Wang limped the small blind with king-queen and Antoine Sankari raised to 450,000 holding ace-jack. Wang moved all in, Sankari called off for 2.6 million, and a king spiked on the river to burst the final table bubble and send Sankari out in seventh place for $46,788.
“I actually don't think he was light very often,” Wang told PokerNews about the hand. “So, I almost just flatted [the raise], but I think it's just a good enough hand, and it's so pretty, so I jammed and a king on the river. It feels great.
The final table will now go on hiatus for one day before returning to play down to a winner at 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
Here’s a look at the remaining payouts:
WPT Playground Championship Payouts
| Place | Prize in CAD |
|---|---|
| 1 | $412,300 (US $296,779) (including a seat in the WPT World Championship) |
| 2 | $265,000 (US $190,750) |
| 3 | $196,000 (US $141,083) |
| 4 | $146,000 (US $105,093) |
| 5 | $111,000 (US $79,899) |
| 6 | $84,000 (US $60,464) |
PokerNews will be on-site at the WPT Playground offering content throughout, so be sure to check back daily as we bring you updates and stories straight from the tournament floor.
*Photos courtesy World Poker Tour (WPT) / Alicia Skillman
