WPT Bellagio Cup Final Table Set

With all the hype and hysteria behind the WSOP 40th anniversary, it seems that some other major tournaments haven’t been getting the coverage they deserve. The World Poker Tour 5th Annual Bellagio Cup was a perfect example. The WPT saw a bit of a weak turnout for the big event.

Even with a lower than expected turnout, the $15,000 buy in event managed to attract 268 players and took 6 days to play down to a final table, and the big prize for the event is over $1 Million. By comparison, last year at the 4th Bellagio cup 446 players entered and the top prize of $1.6Million went to Canadian Michael Watson. And in 2007, when the event had a $10,000 buy in, 536 players competed. Even with the lower number of entrants this year, the final table of the event is set to be an exciting one with 8 time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the top 6. Seidel also won the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2008. Faraz Jaka is the chip leader going into the final table action. Jaka had four cashes this year at the WSOP including a 3rd place finish that netted him roughly $400,000. Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith, a young internet poker phenom, is second in chips behind Jaka. Smith turned 21 this year and made his first WSOP appearance in which he cashed 5 times. Alec Torelli will be making his first WPT final table appearance and has won more than $1 Million since his cashing at last years WSOP $10K Heads up Championship. Other players at this final table include Christoffer Sonnnesson of Sweden and 2008 WSOP bracelet winner and member of Team PokerStars Alexandre Gomes. Chip counts for the final table look like this

Rank	First Name Last name	Chip Counts
1	Faraz Jaka	5,041,000
2	Justin Smith	2,992,000
3	Alec Torelli	2,623,000
4	Erik Seidel	2,170,000
5	Christoffer Sonnesson	1,671,000
6	Alexandre Gomes	1,586,000

Final table payouts will be:

Rank	prize amount
1st	$1,187,670
2nd	$774,780
3rd	$464,870
4th	$271,165
5th	$203,385
6th	$164,640

Other notable cash finished on Day 5 of the WPT Bellagio Cup include 19th place Alexander Kravchenko, 20th place Ralph Perry, 23rd place Hoyt Corkins, and 26th place Freddy Deeb, all of him took home $23,245. Mimi Tran finished in 7th place for $125,900.

News Added: 20 July, 2009

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