The field of 50 was cut down to just 9 after the first day of play on Wednesday, December 13th and leading the way at the final table is Luke Martinelli. Martinelli could lock up his largest recorded lifetime cash ever with any cash here as a mincash for the event is worth $101,365. But all players will be looking to lock up the first place prize of $356,250 as well as the World Series of Poker Circuit ring.
Also seated at the final table are Robert Spano and Gautam Dhingra who both made the final table of the $5,000 Challenge here at The Star Sydney as well. Dhingra finished 3rd for $114,850 while Spano came in 5th for $63,797. The two of them could lock up a few more points for the race for Casino Champion which awards a seat to the $1,000,000 Guaranteed Global Casino Championship in 2019.
Rounding out the final table are the likes of Jan Suchanek and Sosia Jiang who have had a lot of success in $10,000 events and higher. Suchanek has had a few deep runs including one in the 2016 Main Event where he finished 49th for $142,447. Jiang won a high roller event in Maccau in 2017 where she topped a field of 180 players to lock up a first place prize of $498,073.
Here's a look at how the final 9 stack up:
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|
| 1 | Gautam Dhingra | 224,500 | 45 |
| 2 | Ebon Bakody | 291,500 | 58 |
| 3 | Sosia Jiang | 283,500 | 57 |
| 4 | Luke Martinelli | 570,000 | 114 |
| 5 | Jason Pritchard | 84,000 | 17 |
| 6 | Jan Suchanek | 304,000 | 61 |
| 7 | Robert Spano | 131,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Michael Egan | 381,500 | 76 |
| 9 | Qiang Fu | 280,000 | 56 |
Players will resume in level 14 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and an ante of 5,000 from the big blind. Once play reaches 4 handed, the ante will be cut down to half the big blind. As a reminder, PokerNews' coverage of this event will be posted with a 90-minute delay, so as to match the live stream. Action begins at 2:15 p.m. local time with the live stream beginning at 3:45 p.m. local time.
Tags:
Gautam DhingraLuke MartinelliRobert Spano
and Robert Spano called in the small blind with 
.
flop and the 
came on the turn. There, Spano checked. Suchanek put out a bet of 20,000 and Spano folded, so Suchanek took down the pot.
flop and the 
came on the turn. There, Jiang bet 10,000 and Egan called. 
and it was good enough to beat Egan's 
as she rivered a straight.
