10 August 2017 (Cherokee, N.C.) – The final table of the 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship is set, and Alexander Lakhov will enter the final day of the tournament with the chip lead. He enters the final day of the tournament with 1,463,000, well ahead of the second place player (Sean Yu), who has 935,000. There are four other players still in contention, and combined they have fewer chips than Lakhov.
The six remaining players will return Thursday at noon for the official final table, which will be filmed for and televised at a later date.
The 2017 Global Casino Championship had a field of 124 players. Nine of them bought in directly for $10,000. The other 115 earned free seats as a result of their performance on the WSOP Circuit or International Circuit during the 2016/2017 season. The total prize pool for the event is $1,090,000, and the winner will take home $296,274 and WSOP gold bracelet. All six of the remaining players are guaranteed a payout of at least $52,274.
Lakhov earned his free entry by winning Casino Champion honors at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Yu earned his seat by winning the Main Event at Planet Hollywood. Jesse Cohen (currently third in chips) was Casino Champion here at Harrah’s Cherokee. Joshua Reichard (currently fifth) was Casino Champion at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs. Dylan Linde (sixth in chips) won the Main Event at the Horseshoe Hammond.
Five-time bracelet winner Jason Mercier is the only player to buy in directly who’s still in contention. He currently sits fourth in chips.
Day 2 of the Global Casino Championship started with 47 players still in contention from a starting field of 124. Dylan Wilkerson started the day with a substantial chip lead. But after taking a bad beat against Caufman Talley, he was left short-stacked and was eventually eliminated short of the money.
Play got off to a fast start on Wednesday. The 47 players who started the day had been reduced to a field of 37 in just a little more than half an hour. Action slowed a bit after that, though. About halfway through the fifth level of the day, there were only 20 players left. The top 19 would make the money, and after about half an hour, Cody Pack was eliminated on the bubble. Four players were eliminated in the next hour before dinner break: Roman Schafer (19th place), Sohale Khalili (18th place), Arron Fletcher (17th place), and Doug “Rico” Carli (16th place).
After the dinner break, the fast pace of play returned with three eliminations in the first 10 minutes: Roland Israelashvili (15th), Brad Albrinck (14th), and Ryan Jones (13th). Then after three more eliminations (Andrew Heckman, Caufman Talley, and Brett Bader, in that order), the nine remaining players combined to a single table.
At that point, Charlie Nguyen was short-stacked, and he ended up being the next player out (9th place, $24,804). Nikhil Gera soon followed him to the exit after a confrontation with Alexander Lakhov. He finished in 8th place for $31,189. About an hour later, Will Berry was eliminated in 7th place ($39,993).
That left six players remaining, and they’ll play on the television stage Thursday to determine a winner.
One of the major storylines from Day 1 was the success of players who qualified for this event on the WSOP International Circuit. Fabrizio Gonalez finished Day 1 third in chips. Didier Luel and Alexander Lakhov also finished in the top 15. Matteo Mutti, Francisco Moura, Bruno Pinto, Mari Lampropoulou, and Michal Mrakes also advanced to Day 2. However, the overall success of the international players stopped short on Wednesday, and Alexander Lakhov was the only one of the group to make the final table. A year ago, it was an international qualifier (Said El Yousfi) who won this event, and Lakhov will now have the opportunity to carry that mantle tomorrow.
The final day begins at noon on Thursday, and will continue until the latest WSOP bracelet winner has been determined.
Here are the full chip counts heading into the final table:
1 - Alexander Lakhov - 1,463,000
2 - Sean Yu - 935,000
3 - Jesse Cohen - 489,000
4 - Jason Mercier - 364,000
5 - Joshua Reichard - 261,000
6 - Dylan Linde - 208,000
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