WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Reaches Final Table as Wilson Leads Eveslage

The penultimate day of action in this year’s World Poker Tour Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open saw 16 players reduced to just six finalists. The chip leader at the start of the day Andrew Wilson prevailed yet again as the British player bagged the lead going into the final day. He has some stellar company, however, as some of the best in the business hunt him down in a race for the title.

Early Stages See Big Flips

With 16 players starting the day, the first player out of the reckoning was Nick Verderamo. He cashed for $40,500 as his pocket fours were shot down by Dung Nguyen, as his pocket nines made it to the end of a sweaty board showing A-5-2-2-A still in the lead. Verderamo’s exit was followed by that of Joey DiPascale as his king-jack lost to Kay’s ace-jack on a flop of J-5-5 that saw the turn and river brick out.

Dung Nguyen was the player who left in 14^th place, cashing for $50,000 as his ace-eight was unable to triumph with a gutshot the only hope against the flopped bottom set for Gediminas Uselis, whose pocket sevens had hit the J-T-7 flop hard. A jack on the turn and ten on the river ended matters in the Lithuanian’s favor, with Nguyen losing out.

Jacob Dolehanty lost in 13^th when he was unlucky to run ace-jack into pocket kings that belonged to Chad Eveslage. Joshua Kay had pocket aces to eliminate the next poor soul who left the battle, as Phong Turbo Nguyen busted with ace-ten on a seven-high board for $62,500.

The Reigning Champ Rises Again

With 11 players remaining, five more still needed to bust to produce a final table. The bust-outs continued as Gediminas Uselis, who won this event in 2021, took out Denys Shafikov as the Lithuanian’s king-queen hit a king on the turn to overtake Shafikov’s ace-nine. That sent Shafikov home with $62,500.

Andrew Wilson claimed yet another victim when he busted Steve Karp in 10^th place, and that brought about the unofficial final table of nine, with three players needing to bust to set the final six in place. Ted McNamara was the first of those victims when his pocket queens couldn’t hold when committed pre-flop against Wilson’s ace-king. A king on the flop saw to McNamara’s chances and he left in ninth place for $78,500.

Ryan Dougherty was the next to go in eighth place for $100,000, and from a short stack. All-in with jack-ten of clubs, he was behind Wilson’s ace-queen pre-flop and stayed there through the board which ran out A-8-3-7-Q, with a river to a gutshot running dry despite Dougherty calling for a ‘runner-runner’.

When Eric Bonin lost his seat in seventh place, the final table was set. He was all-in with the best hand to save his tournament life, but his pocket kings fell to Wilson’s jack-eight when a flop of Q-J-J set him behind and a turn of an ace and river deuce didn’t help him recover. Bonin’s cash of $129,000 was impressive, but he was the last to miss out on the final six.

Wilson Leads the Way

“Wilson’s challengers come in the form of highly experienced poker pros.”

With six players remaining, British player Andrew Wilson has a big lead with 33,425,000 chips, but as we have seen as recently as in this week’s GGPoker Super MILLION$ win by Roman Hrabec when he came back against Mike Watson, chips do not guarantee the top prize in a poker tournament until they are all yours.

Wilson’s challengers come in the form of highly experienced poker pros, such as Chad Eveslage (12.7 million), who is coming into this final on the back of his best year in poker by far. Behind him is Brian Altman, a superb pro for whom no final table holds any terrors. Altman has 11,850,000 chips with which to make an assault on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup trophy and $785,800 and a WPT World Championship seat worth $10,400.

The other three remaining players will all provide different challenges. Joshua Kay (9,250,000) has already taken out a number of players on his way to the final table and if he gets any momentum going will be a huge danger. Gediminas Uselis (8,350,000) is the only other non-American to Andrew Wilson, and even more outstanding than that is the fact that the Lithuanian is the reigning Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open champion. Finally, Robel Andemichael (1.4 million) will start with an extremely short stack, but has nothing to lose and for that reason will be a dangerous opponent.