Friedlander Takes Chip Lead into Final Table of the $1,000 Seniors Championship
After ten levels of 60 minutes each, play has ended with 8 players on Day 3 of Event #32: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship. The day started with 101 hopefuls that survived the record-shattering field of 5,919 players. At the end of the day, it’s Gary Friedlander that takes the chip lead into the final table with 8,080,000 in chips. He will be in prime position to scoop up the first-place prize of $662,983 and the coveted gold WSOP bracelet.
Friedlander won most of those chips by doubling up against Bill Bennett with pocket aces, by flopping a pair of aces against Frank Berry, and by taking out Thad Smith when he flopped two pair and made a full house on the turn. Trailing in second place is Bill Stabler with 6,085,000. Stabler took out Sotirios Zafiris and Daniel Rosenberger.
Closing out the podium is Matthew Davis (6,010,000) who went on a bit of a heater during the last two levels of the day. He managed to take out Richard Behling in eleventh place who was pretty aggressive the whole day at all of his tables. Behling actually finished eleventh for the second time in this event, repeating his performance from 2016.
Bill Bennett, Frank Berry, Rachel Delatorre, Joseph Schulman, and Scott Hamilton-Hill round out the final table of eight. For Bennett, this will be his biggest cash ever. The American wasn’t expecting to make it this far as he claimed he didn’t even have a hotel room booked for tonight. Berry has over $200,000 in live tournament cashes but no WSOP cash yet, and will be looking to make his first one very memorable.
Delatorre is the last woman standing and has probably surpassed all of her expectations. Her biggest recorded live tournament cash up until now is worth just $1,940 and she’ll be looking to become the first female bracelet winner of 2018. Schulman has over $400,000 in cashes and but only around $20,000 of that on the WSOP circuit. Hamilton-Hill is the only non-American player. The New Zealander will be trying to win the second WSOP bracelet for his country.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Room | Table/Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | FT/2 | Joseph Schulman | United States | 1,510,000 | 15 |
| Amazon | FT/3 | Scott Hamilton-Hill | New Zealand | 1,455,000 | 15 |
| Amazon | FT/4 | Rachel Delatorre | United States | 1,645,000 | 16 |
| Amazon | FT/5 | Matthew Davis | United States | 6,010,000 | 60 |
| Amazon | FT/6 | Bill Stabler | United States | 6,085,000 | 61 |
| Amazon | FT/7 | Frank Berry | United States | 2,090,000 | 21 |
| Amazon | FT/8 | Gary Friedlander | United States | 8,080,000 | 81 |
| Amazon | FT/9 | Bill Bennett | United States | 2,735,000 | 27 |
At the start of the day, more than 20 players left the field within the first 30 minutes. Action was fast and furious for a while and didn’t really slow down much. The oldest player in the field today was Andreas Dassopoulos (83) and unfortunately for him, he was also the first to be sent to the payout desk. Bracelet winners Larry Wright and Keith Lehr finished the day earlier than they would have wanted. The same could be said for Day 2 chipleader Ronald Bishop, who bowed out in 47th place. Former November Niner Dan Sindelar’s father, William Sindelar, finished in 38th place.
The eight remaining players will return at 11 a.m. on Monday, June 18, to play down to a winner in the Amazon room at one of the feature tables. They will return in level 31, which features a small blind of 50,000, a big blind of 100,000, and a running ante of 15,000.
This is what they’re playing for:
| Place | Prize | Player | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $662,983 | ||
| 2 | $409,456 | ||
| 3 | $303,859 | ||
| 4 | $227,111 | ||
| 5 | $170,973 | ||
| 6 | $129,648 | ||
| 7 | $99,032 | ||
| 8 | $76,204 | ||
| 9 | $59,074 | Thad Smith | United States |
A winner will be crowned on Monday and PokerNews will be there to bring you all the action live from the feature table, so make sure to follow all the updates as we crown the 2018 Seniors Championship winner.
