WPT Legends of Poker Final Table Set, POY Leader Zamani Headlines
The final table was set at a classic California stop on the World Poker Tour on Wednesday.
The WPT Legends of Poker at The Bicycle Hotel & Casino in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell Gardens, CA played down to its final six players, who will return to play for the title and a $615,346 first-place prize on Thursday.
The $4,000 buy-in event drew 687 entries over two starting flights, creating a $2,465,643 prize pool. It took three more days to play down to the final six with legendary names like Barry Shulman, David Pham and perennial runner-up Garrett Greer falling just short of the final six.
Headlining the final table is Benjamin Zamani, a World Series of Poker bracelet winner with $3,260,085 in career tournament earnings to date. Zamani finished second at the $3,700 WPT Choctaw Championship Event in July and will take over the lead in the WPT Player of the Year race no matter where he finishes Thursday.
Leading the Legends final are a pair of veteran California players who appear to be on the upswings of a lifetime. Pacific Palisades' William Vo (pictured) is a plucky senior with just under $400,000 in cashes lifetime, dating back to tournaments in 2000, while San Mateo's Pat Lyons has $553,933 in career tournament earnings dating back to 2004, and is coming off the biggest score of his career, winning the 12th Annual Arizona State Poker Championship in mid-August for $241,700.
Both players have around five million in chips and while Vo will earn the best score of his career no matter where he finishes Thursday, Lyons can best his win in Arizona with a second-place finish or better.
Three-time WPT final table participant Jeremy Kottler finished seventh, bubbling the TV final table. Rounding out the group that will play under the lights and in front of the cameras Thursday are Brazilian upstart Rafael Ferreira De Oliveira, Superior, Wisconsin's Todd Peterson, who had an eight-year gap in tournament cashes on his resume before resurfacing at the WSOP this year, and Upeshka De Silva, a 2015 WSOP bracelet winner from Texas with $1,097,091 in career tournament earnings.
Each player is guaranteed at least $85,760 and six-figure scores await the top five. Here's how things will look when the final table begins Thursday:
WPT Legends of Poker Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Vo | 5,260,000 |
| 2 | Pat Lyons | 4,980,000 |
| 3 | Benjamin Zamani | 3,210,000 |
| 4 | Todd Peterson | 1,940,000 |
| 5 | Upeshka De Silva | 4,475,000 |
| 6 | Rafael Ferreira de Oliveira | 780,000 |
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $615,346 |
| 2 | $341,412 |
| 3 | $198,720 |
| 4 | $149,715 |
| 5 | $113,105 |
| 6 | $85,760 |
*Photos Courtesy of the World Poker Tour
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