Chilean Pro Amos Ben Leads the Official Final Table at the End of Day 3
The final table of the PokerStars Festival Chile, $500,000 guaranteed Main Event is set after six and a half levels of play today on Day 3.
Five of the eight final tablists are Chilean, and they all make up the top five spots on the leaderboard. Leading the way is two-time LAPT high roller champion Amos Ben. The Chilean pro dominated throughout the day and already has three high roller titles under his belt. He clearly demonstrated his skills as he remained at the top of the leaderboard for the vast majority of play. Ben bagged 2,237,000 today and has a big lead on the second-biggest chip stack. Ben used his chips aggressively and put pressure on all of his opponents in many different scenarios, contributing to his success throughout. Ben has more than a quarter of the total chips in play and is arguably the most decorated player at the table.
Here is a look at how the final eight players stack up:
Seat | Player Name | Country | Chip Count |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Andres Vega | Chile | 740,000 |
2 | Juan Sebastian Gomez | Colombia | 716,000 |
3 | Christopher Franco | Chile | 1,512,000 |
4 | Oscar Toloso | Argentina | 692,000 |
5 | Amos Ben | Chile | 2,237,000 |
6 | Rodrigo Zambra | Chile | 790,000 |
7 | Diego Lizana | Chile | 808,000 |
8 | Sergio Dario Tello | Argentina | 728,000 |
In second place is Chilean, Christopher Franco. He started the day with 127,000 chips and steadily built it up, bagging 1,512,000. He won a big flip versus Malandre, and used that to gain momentum as he climbed the leaderboard. He even took over the chip lead from Ben for a short period of time, which no one else was able to do. Franco has one live recorded tournament win under his belt after taking down a Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza event last year and is looking to add to that success tomorrow.
Diego Lizana sits in third place after having bagged 808,000 and is looking for his first live recorded win. Lizana won some big flips early and never looked back as he remained in the top three chip stacks for most of the day. In fourth place is Chilean, Rodrigo Zambra, with 790,000 chips. Zambra has multiple live cashes but is still in search of his first live recorded title. Zambra played a steady game throughout, not getting into any big flip scenarios. Fifth in chips is Chilean, Andres Vega, bagging 740,000. He has one recorded live win under his belt and two main event final tables from the Dreams Poker Tour. Sixth in chips is Argentina's, Sergio Dario Tello, with 728,000. Tello finished in second place in Event #1 of the PokerStars Festival Chile $220 event. He looks to improve on that finish tomorrow and get his first live recorded tournament win. In seventh is Colombian, Juan Sebastian Gomez, with 716,000 chips. Gomez looks to build up his live tournament resume as this is going to be his highest career cash, being guaranteed $12,200 tomorrow. He has one other career live cash and has been a force to be reckoned with in this event. Rounding out the top eight is Argentinian, Oscar Toloso, with 692,000. This is Toloso's first cash and he has represented himself well among an extremely tough field.
Besides the top two chip leaders, the other six stacks are all within five to six big blinds of each other. This should create a very competitive dynamic for tomorrows action. The average stack for the final table is 1,028,125 which is roughly an average of 40 big blinds. When play returns tomorrow, blinds will be at 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante. The level has five minutes remaining before blinds will increase to 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante. Tomorrow will play until a champion has been crowned and someone walks away with close to $100,000 for the victory.
Here is a look at the remaining prizepool:
Place | Prize (USD) |
---|---|
1 | $97,360 |
2 | $61,900 |
3 | $46,400 |
4 | $37,560 |
5 | $29,600 |
6 | $22,600 |
7 | $16,600 |
8 | $12,200 |
The tournament attracted 329 total entries and today's action began with 32 players. There was no shortage of action from the moment the first card was dealt, and some big names hit the rail including the likes of three-time high roller champion, Richard Dubini, falling in 29th place ($3,660) after his pocket queens ran into pocket kings. The next big name out the door was last years, LAPT Player of the Year, Nicolas Malandre. Malandre took a big hit when he lost a flip with versus Christopher Franco's pocket jacks. He was unable to recover and had to settle for 26th place, pocketing $4,160. Joaquin Barcena is an Argentinian pro and one of the high roller contestants. He fell in 23rd place ($4,660) after flopping trips versus Amos Ben. Ben had him out-kicked and sent him to the rail as he did to so many others. Roberto Andres Finkelberg has an LAPT high roller title to his name from back in 2013. He fell in 21st place ($4,660) and wasn't able to put much together on the day. Tomas Carvallo is a Chilean Pro who has a national Main Event title under his belt and finished in a respectable 15th place for $6,660. Martin Pineiro from Argentina has multiple deep finishes on various South American Tour stops and finished in 12th place ($7,400). The final elimination on the day was Daniel Vejar in 9th place ($10,000) and was the final table bubble boy. Vejar got it in pre-flop with versus Tello's pocket queens and was unable to improve.
Day 4 begins at noon tomorrow, so stay locked in with PokerNews as we bring you all the live reporting and updates throughout the final table.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Amos Ben |
2,237,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
Christopher Franco |
1,512,000
-8,000
|
-8,000 |
Diego Lizana |
808,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
Rodrigo Zambra |
790,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
Andres Vega |
740,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
Sergio Dario Tello |
728,000
318,000
|
318,000 |
Juan Sebastian Gomez |
716,000
-24,000
|
-24,000 |
Oscar Toloso |
692,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |