2012 World Poker Tour World Championship Day 6: Marvin Rettenmaier Heads Final Table
It was a quick Day 6 at the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship as the field only needed to get cut from nine players down to six. Things kicked off at noon and the final elimination of the day occurred just about two and a half hours later. Leading the official WPT televised final table will be Marvin Rettenmaier with 6.715 million in chips.
Just six hands into the day, Day 4 chip leader Hafiz Khan was relegated to the rail thanks to losing a flip against Rettenmaier. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Rettenmaier opened with a raise to 105,000 from under the gun with the blinds at 25,000/50,000/5,000 during Level 24. Play folded all the way over to two-time WPT champion Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and he flat-called before it was Khan's turn in the big blind. Khan decided to make things a bit more pricy and reraised to 360,000.
After some deliberation, Rettenmaier fired back with a reraise of his own to 670,000. Mizrachi then folded, but Khan wanted to play for it all and slid his entire stack into the middle of roughly 1.5 million. Rettenmaier made a quick called and rolled over the J♦J♥. Khan held the A♥K♣ and was in a flip for his tournament life.
The flop was 9♦8♥7♥ and kept Rettenmaier in front. The 3♥ on the turn missed Khan, but it gave him some more outs with a flush draw. The 6♦ on the river was red, but not the heart Khan was looking for and he was officially eliminated in ninth place. For his efforts, Khan took home his largest prize of 2012 worth $58,568.
Wil Wilkinson was next out the door in eighth place. Eleven hands after the exit of Khan, Wilkinson raised all-in from middle position for 650,000. Mizrachi was again involved, but this time more so as he made the call from the cutoff seat. Everyone else folded and it was the at-risk Wilkinson's A♣6♣ versus Mizrachi's Q♠Q♦.
The K♦Q♣3♦ flop nailed Mizrachi with a set of queens and further pushed Wilkinson out the door. He would now need running clubs or running straight cards to stay alive, but the 6♥ on the turn and 3♣ on the river gave him no miracle. Wilkinson earned $82,361 and left the remaining seven players on the televised final table bubble.
Just 31 hands after Wilkinson headed out the door, former WPT champion and current WPT Player of the Year contender Moon Kim raised from the hijack seat to 160,000 with the blinds at 30,000/60,000/5,000 in Level 25. Mizrachi requested a count and then made the call from the small bind before action fell on Rettenmaier in the big blind. He reraised to 630,000. Kim shoved all-in for 1.06 million and Mizrachi folded. Rettenmaier made the call.
Kim showed A♠Q♠ and was up against the 9♥9♦ for Rettenmaier. After a flop of J♥7♦3♥ put Kim closer to the door, the 4♣ hit the turn and 6♦ fell on the river. All of that missed Kim and he was eliminated as the official WPT final table bubble boy in seventh place. For his finish, Kim pocketed $118,966.
Not only was the televised final table set for the WPT World Championship, but with Kim's elimination in seventh place, Joe Serock had officially locked up 2012 WPT Player of the Year. Serock finished third in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars events for $320,400, third in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown for $306,240 and then 10th in this event for $47,587 to help him secure Player of the Year honors.
WPT World Championship Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi | 2,560,000 |
| 2 | Marvin Rettenmaier | 6,715,000 |
| 3 | Steve O'Dwyer | 2,035,000 |
| 4 | Nick Schulman | 1,555,000 |
| 5 | Trevor Pope | 1,480,000 |
| 6 | Philippe Ktorza | 895,000 |
As you can see, this is one heck of a final table. To add to the drama of playing for nearly $1.2 million in first-place prize money, Mizrachi will be vying for his third WPT title and Nick Schulman going for his second. Day 7 will commence at 1600 PDT (0000 BST) on Saturday following a day off on Friday while the $100,000 Super High Roller plays out its final table. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap.
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*Photo courtesy of BJ Nemeth at WorldPokerTour.com
