Darren Elias Leads World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event Final Table

Darren Elias already leads the World Poker Tour in a number of statistical categories. With four main tour victories, he is the all-time WPT title leader. He also has the most final-table finishes (12) and cashes (44). Elias is in prime position to put even more distance between himself and the rest of the field thanks to making the final table of the 2022 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event.

The tournament attracted a field of 2,010 total entries to create a prize pool of $6,432,000. From that sea of players, there are now only six remaining with a shot at the title and the top prize of $1,000,300. Elias is the chip leader, with his 38,825,000 representing roughly 39 percent of the total chips in play.

The final table will not resume until May 25th. The remaining six contenders will head to the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada to play down to a winner while the event is filmed for televised broadcast.

“It would mean a lot to win this one. It would be my biggest score ever. I’ve never won a million dollars, so it would mean a lot,” said Elias, who has $9.9 million in career earnings to his name, including more than $3.9 million in WPT earnings.

Mark Davis will enter the final table in second chip position with 26,550,000. The 2022 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee main event winner began day 4 as the chip leader with 16 players remaining but was surpassed by Elias down the stretch. Davis knocked out Andrew Davidson in seventh place ($165,000) to set the televised final table. The final six have all locked up at least $215,000 for making it this far.

The third-largest stack at the final table will belong to 2021 WPT SHRPS third-place finisher Viet Vo. The three-time WPT final tablist will be gunning for his first outright win on the tour at his fourth go-round. The Pearland, TX resident has more than $3.3 million in prior tournament cashes, and could add to that in a major way with another strong showing.

Michael Laufer won a preliminary event at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock’n’Roll Poker Open last fall for a career-best $160,734. He will more than double his current career earnings with a finish of fifth or higher.

Rounding out the final table is short stack Andrew Barfield. The Illinois native will look to add to his $333,290 with a spin-up when play resumes on May 25.

Action will pick back up with 41:50 remaining in level 32, with blinds of 125,000-250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante. The final table will be live-streamed in addition to being recorded for later broadcast, with the action available via the WPT’s Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the final table:

Photo credit: Joe Giron / World Poker Tour.

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