Faraz Jaka Jockeys for Position as WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Final Table Awaits

A record-setting World Poker Tour field was trimmed from 81 players to 14 during Monday’s WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Day 3 session. When the dust settled, chip leader Joseph Cheong was still in contention, although a little lower on the leaderboard, along with former WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka. The nomadic poker professional began Day 3 just outside the top-ten and he will begin the penultimate day just outside the top-half of the leaderboard.

While Cheong and Jaka have given themselves a chance to make Wednesday’s PokerGO live streamed final table, Scott Margereson holds the chip lead. The Englishman controls nearly 25% of the chips in play, with 9.2 million, and has more than double his nearest competitor, Joey Couden.

Tanner Millen (3.825 million), online legend Brian Hastings (3.375 million), and Cheong (3.3 million) round out the top-five. Behind Jaka, who is near the middle of the leaderboard, sits the only remaining WPT Champions Club member. Victor Ramdin won his lone World Poker Tour title in Season IV and over a decade later, is looking to add to his lengthy tournament resume with another WPT final table appearance.

Ramdin returns near the bottom of the charts though, with just 775,000 chips, while Jeff Fielder and Matt Stout are also alive on either side of 2 million. Fielder opened the year with a WPTDeepStacks victory and is still in contention to become the first player to win both a WPTDeepStacks and a WPT Main Tour event. Stout has two WPT final tables on his career resume, including a 5th place finish in this event from 2014.

The remaining field is guaranteed at least $43,445, but the lion’s share of the over $4 million prize pool is at the final table. That is also where $696,740 sits for the eventual WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown champion, along with a seat in the Season XVI-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

For Day 4 updates of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, follow along on WPT.com, and subscribe now to watch the WPT live on PokerGO when the final table plays to a winner on Wednesday.