Marvin Rettenmaier Has Monster Lead Heading Into World Poker Tour Championship Final Table

Marvin Rettenmaier was one of the top tournament players in the world last year thanks to grinding out small scores. He could achieve the same status this year, but through a much different route. On Thursday, he positioned himself as the favorite to win one of the biggest events of the year.

With 6.72 million in chips (111 big blinds), the German pro wields a monster stack heading into Saturday’s six-handed final table of the World Poker Tour Championship. Just this week, PartyPoker announced it had inked a deal with Rettenmaier.

Trailing Rettenmaier at the final table are Michael Mizrachi (2.56 million), Steve O’Dwyer (2.04 million), Nick Schulman (1.56 million), Trevor Pope (1.48 million) and Philippe Ktorza (895,000). The annual $25,000 buy-in at Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada attracts some of the game’s best players.

All remaining competitors, who waded threw a starting field of 152, are vying for a first-place prize of nearly $1.2 million.

Along with the bricks of money, points in the 2012 Player of the Year race are on the line. More than 1,000 will go to the champion.

The final table was set after Moon Kim busted in seventh around 2:30 p.m. local time.

While the finalists in the WPT Championship endure a short hiatus, those in the $100,000 buy-in event will play to a winner on Friday. The six-figure buy-in drew 34 entries.

Follow Brian Pempus on Twitter — @brianpempus

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