While most of the original 137 players enjoyed the white sands and turquoise waters of beautiful Providenciales Island, 30 players sacrificed their third consecutive day of sun in attempts to make the final six and the televised
World Poker Tour final table. Big names started the day, but
Jim "KrazyKanuck" Worth,
Gavin Smith,
Mark Seif, and
Johan Storakers were all sent to the beach early. That left live pros
Erik Cajelais,
Steve Sung, and former
WPT Bay 101
Shooting Star champion
Nam Le to compete for the TV table. Live pros weren't the only story; top Internet players went deep, and one's play stood above the rest.
Alan "TheUsher" Sass may not be a household name to the average poker fan, but he is well known to the online world. His play today has demonstrated how skillful a player he is, including one hand in which he made a call … with jack high. Action was folded to Trevor Hebert in the small blind, he limped, and Sass checked. The flop came Q
7
4
and Hebert bets$12,000. Sass made the call, and the turn brought the 7
. Both players checked, and the river was the K
. Hebert bet $20,000 and Sass pondered his next move. He elected to call, and Hebert instantly fired his cards into the muck. As the pot is being pushed to Sass, he grabbed his cards and rolled over J
2
for jack high.
Sass wasn't done making hero calls, and his next victim was Sung. Sass opened the action from the button for $11,000 and both Le and Sung called from the blinds. The flop rolled out 9
9
7
and Le and Sung both checked. Sass fired out $19,000, Le folded and Sung made the call. Both players checked the 7
turn and the river brought the J
. Sung bet $35,000 and Sass made the call. Sass tabled A
10
and Sung mucked his hand.
Sung never recovered and was eliminated a short time later by Robert Been. Been raised to $17,000 from under the gun, and Sung called from the big blind. The flop came 10
9
8
, Sung checked, and Been bet $30,000. Sung moved all in for his remaining $117,000, and Been insta-called with K
10
. Sung was drawing better than 50 percent with K
Q
, and needed to spike a club, queen, or jack to win the hand. The next two cards fell 3
and 10
, sending Sung to the rail in 11th place worth ... $0.
With the final table set, the Players Club Casino announced they would pay the 10th-place finisher the cost of the original buy in, $7,500. Been, who entered the final table as the chip leader, would eventually become the beneficiary of the added cash. After losing a large hand to Cajelais, Been raised under the gun to $20,000 and Cajelais reraised to $60,000 from the cutoff. Been moved all in for around $200,000, and Cajelais quickly called with K
K
. Been showed A
Q
, and the board was no help. Been was sent home in 10th for $7,500.
It took just a short amount of time to bust the next two players, Internet pros
Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron and
Rami "ARBIANIGHT" Boukai were the next two eliminated, and play was down to the TV bubble. On the final hand of play, Jumphol Srinark limped under the gun for $8,000,
Cajelais raised from the big blind to $38,000, Srinark moved all in, and Cajelais immediately called with A
K
. Srinark showed 8
8
and was racing. Cajelais spiked an ace and king to eliminate Srinark in seventh place, earning $25,000.
Players will have a day off on Saturday, and the final table will begin at 10 a.m. EDT on Sunday. Here are the official chip counts by seat assignment:
Seat No. 1: Nam Le - $232,000
Seat No. 2: Erik Cajelais - $1,086,000
Seat No. 3: Rhynie Campbell - $275,000
Seat No. 4: Chris Smith - $301,000
Seat No. 5: Trevor Hebert - $400,000
Seat No. 6: Alan "TheUsher" Sass - $466,000