Photo Recap: Day 5 of WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown

By BJ Nemeth

Day 5 began with 18 players, and it took less than five hours to reach the final six for Monday’s televised WPT final table. Check out this photographic look back at Day 5 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown:

While the WPT set was being constructed in the Seminole Hard Rock Live arena, the playdown day of the tournament moved to the poker room.

Noah Schwartz (standing, center right) shakes hands with Bruce Snell after being eliminated in 18th place by James Mackey (seated, fair right). Schwartz moved all in preflop with [Ad9d] but ran into Mackey’s [10h10s] and didn’t improve.

After a flop of [Kh4h4d], Abbey Daniels (right, seat 1) moved all in, and Ronny Beda (top left) was conflicted for several minutes before he decided to call with [KsJd]. But Daniels turned over [AdKd], and went on to win the pot and eliminate Beda in 17th place.

Alexander Condon of Sioux City, Iowa didn’t finish in the money, but he was the deepest finisher among all the 18-20 year olds who entered this event. For that, he received a prize basket from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino that included an electric guitar autographed by Aaron Lewis, lead singer for the band Staind. Condon is the cousin of poker pro William Reynolds, who made the most recent WPT final table at the Hollywood Poker Open in Indiana.

After a preflop raise from Justin Zaki (far right) and a reraise from Blair Hinkle (foreground, left), Tommy Vedes (center) moved all in. Zaki folded, and Hinkle thought for a while, saying, "I really feel like you’re light here." Hinkle called with [Ac9h], but Vedes wasn’t light — he had [JdJs]. The pocket jacks held up and Vedes doubled in a huge pot.

Derek Buonano (left) lost a preflop race with [QcQs] against the [AsKd] of Kazu Oshima (right) to be eliminated in 12th place.

Bruce Snell (far left), who entered the tournament on Day 2 after winning a last-minute megasatellite, limped under the gun, and then watched as Tommy Vedes (center, right) raised and Justin Zaki (right) reraised. Snell four-bet all in, forcing a quick fold from Vedes. Zaki thought for a bit before he folded, calling it a nice move on the part of Snell.

With the final board showing [AhKd9cAsJc], Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (left) studies Mike Shklover before betting the river. Shklover would fold, forfeiting the pot to Von Kriegenbergh.

With the board showing [9c9d3d8s] on the turn, Kazu Oshima (foreground, left) raised all in with [AhAs], and Abbey Daniels (foreground, right) called with [Qc9h] (trip nines). The trip nines held up to eliminate Oshima in 11th place, and the remaining 10 players combined to a single table.

With the trophy nearby, the players continued battling for the six seats at Monday’s televised WPT final table.

Bruce Snell (standing, left) shakes hands with Tommy Vedes after being eliminated in 10th place at the hands of Allen Bari (center, in black). Snell had moved all in from the small blind with [AhJh], only to see Bari wake up in the big blind with [KcKh].

With eight players left, Allen Bari (left) raised from early position, Justin Zaki (foreground, right) reraised from the button, and Bari reraised back at him. But when Zaki five-bet all in a few moments later, Bari would quickly fold.

With eight players left, Curt Kohlberg (standing, left) moved all in preflop with [Ad7c], but ran into the [10d10h] of Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (foreground, center). Kohlberg flopped two pair to stay alive and double up.

Day 4 chipleader Blair Hinkle (right) moved all in from the big blind with [8c8s], but ran into the [AdAh] of Justin Zaki (standing, left). The aces held up, and Hinkle was eliminated in eighth place, earning $91,450.

With seven players left on the TV bubble and the board showing [KdQh5h2c], Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (left, in grey and red) moved all in with [5d5s] (set of fives), and Abbey Daniels (foreground, right) called with [AhKh] (top pair, nut flush draw). Daniels would need to make her flush to win the pot and eliminate Von Kriegenbergh.

Abbey Daniels (foreground, right) celebrates prematurely when she sees the river card fills her flush with the [2h]. But why is Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (left) smiling? Because the deuce paired the board, which turns his set of fives into a full house.

It takes a moment, but Abbey Daniels (foreground, right) realizes her mistake, and reacts to losing the biggest pot of the tournament to Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (left, in grey and red). Von Kriegenbergh doubled up into the chip lead.

Abbey Daniels (left) didn’t let the loss affect her, and played a big pot with Tommy Vedes (right) two hands later on a board of [10s9h6cKs10h]. Daniels would win this 1.5 million pot in a showdown with [Jc10d].

James Mackey was the unfortunate TV bubble boy, all in preflop with [5d5h] against the [8d8h] of Taylor Von Kriegenbergh. Mackey never improved, and the pot propelled Von Kriegenbergh to nearly double the stack of anyone else in the final six.

As the players fill out their WPT bio sheets, short stack Curt Kohlberg (right) assures the other final tablists that he will not be moving all in preflop with A-7 at the TV final table. Kohlberg goes on to say that he won’t be raising with anything less than A-K, so everyone should just fold whenever he enters a pot.

Allen Bari, who was short-stacked on the money bubble but survived to the final six, was the RISE Player of the Day. Bari is fourth in chips, but fairly close to Justin Zaki (second in chips) and Abbey Daniels (third in chips).

Here are the official chip counts and seating positions for the televised WPT final table:

Seat 1. Abbey Daniels – 2,192,000 (91 BBs)
Seat 2. Tommy Vedes – 1,570,000 (65 BBs)
Seat 3. Allen Bari – 1,984,000 (82 BBs)
Seat 4. Taylor Von Kriegenbergh – 4,384,000 (182 BBs)
Seat 5. Curt Kohlberg – 655,000 (27 BBs)
Seat 6. Justin Zaki – 2,197,000 (91 BBs)

The televised WPT Final Table begins at 4:00 pm ET. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for complete live coverage, included hand-for-hand updates with updated chip counts after every hands.