Young Guns Headline Final Six in WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship

Several young and prominent poker players headlined the final 16 at the end of Day 3 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship, and those same young stars are still alive after Day 4. They will take a month off before playing at the televised final table in Las Vegas in search of their first WPT titles and $839,300.

Leading the way is Dylan Smith with a stack of 28,400,000 worth 142 blinds, which he will use as he looks to best two runner-up finishes he had at last year’s SHRPS, as well as a third-place finish earlier in this year’s series. He is a force to be reckoned with in this venue as he also took down a Lucky Hearts Poker Open event in January and will see if he can bring the same heat in Vegas.

Second in chips is 15-time Circuit ring winner Josh Reichard, who led the way on both Day 2 and Day 3 before surrendering the chip lead to Smith. Still, Reichard will have 20,575,000 to work with at the televised final table, making him the only other player with 100-plus big blinds.

But most eyes will be on Landon Tice — the “Child of the Sim” who is heading into his summer crossbook with Jeremy Becker with red-hot intensity — and fellow prodigy Jesse Lonis, who is taking in his second Seminole Hard Rock Main Event run after chopping the LHPO Championship in January for $404,267.

Rounding out the final six are recent Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship winner Alex Queen and South Florida local Aaron Kupin, who will enter as the short stack but has already locked up a career-best score.

WPT SHRPS Championship Final Table

Read About Day 3 of the WPT SHRPS Championship!

Smith Overtakes Reichard on Day 4

Day 4 of the SHRPS Championship was the shortest of them all, and the rapid eliminations kicked off with Barry Hatcher falling to Queen as his pocket sevens couldn’t hold against ten-eight suited.

Sevens were also no good for Jackob Datashvili, who ran into the queens of Smith to go out in 15th place. Soon after, Smith was involved in a pivotal hand that saw him snatching the chip lead from Reichard after jamming on top of the Wisconsin crusher’s river overbet and forcing a fold.

A handful of further eliminations set up the nine-handed final table that saw Tice doubling through Jaroslaw Osinski with aces versus jacks to leave Osinski short before he bowed out in ninth place. David Mzareulov was next to go as he found his ace-six pipped by the ace-nine of Smith.

Speaking of being pipped, Dylan Linde, the last remaining WPT Champions Club member in the field, was the last to go on Day 4 as he ran pocket tens into jacks to, for now, end his dreams of a second WPT title.

The six remaining players will fight for the title and the chance to have their name etched on the Mike Sexton WPT Championship Cup on May 29 at the Luxor HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. Each player is guaranteed to earn at least $176,000, while $839,300 remains up top for the eventual champion.

PokerNews will be there in Las Vegas to cover the televised final table, so stay tuned for coverage. In the meantime, be sure to check out the WPT site for more tournament updates.

WPT SHRPS Championship Remaining Payouts

_{*Images courtesy Joe Giron & WPT}