Thomas Marchese leads Foxwoods World Poker Finals

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 02 November 2010 / Leave a Comment

Thomas Marchese is looking to cap off an outstanding breakthrough year by winning the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals later today. The New jersey based pro will go into the six-handed final table as an overwhelming chip leader, with more than 1,000,000 chips than his nearest rival.

Over the past five days, 238 players have taken part in the $10,000 Main Event but only 12 of them made it through to Day 5, which concluded last night when all but six of them were eliminated. First to go was Hoyt Corkins who made a move with As6s only to run into Mohsin Charania's AhTc. It looked like he had sucked out when the flop came down Qd-6d-5c but running tens on the turn and river saw him head for the cashier's cage to pick up his $46,678 winnings.

He was joined soon after by Jason Mercier who was unfortunate to push his pocket nines straight into the next highest pair of Keven Stammen. By the turn the board read 7c-6c-5c-3c and Mercier had a real chance of chopping the pot but the jack of hearts showed up on the river, meaning Stammen's pair of ten was the best hand and a disappointed Mercier headed for the rail.

At this point the remaining players we put together on a ten-handed unofficial final table and just 16 hands later they lost a player. Ben Krier found himself moving all in on the button with Ac9d but knew he was in big trouble when Charania re-shoved from the blinds, before turning over a dominating AcJc. Both players paired their ace on a Ad-Tc-8c-Ts-3d board but Charania's jack kicker came into play and Krier will go down in the record books as finishing tenth.

Another 39 hands took place before nine became eight, as Christopher Bonta lost all of his chips in a cooler of a hand. Marchese opened from under the gun to 55,000 with blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000a and only Bonta, on the button, called. The flop of As-9h-2d saw Marchese lead out for 62,000, Bonta move all-in for around 400,000 and Marchese call. Bonta showed AdQs but it was no match for Marchese's AcKd. The 6h on the turn helped neither player but the Jd on the river locked up the hand for Marchese and resigned Bonta to the $61,480 ninth place prize.

Another 40 minutes past before another player fell victim of the run-good of Marchese. This time Besnik Ziba decided that his Ad5d was good enough to move all-in for a total of 266,000 chips after Marchese made his standard UTG raise to 55,000. Indeed it was as Marchese held Kd9d and it looked like the move had paid off as the board read Qh-8s-4c-6d but a cruel 9c on the river sent Ziba home with $72,863 to console himself with.

Just four hands later and the final table bubble burst and it was former Betfair Poker pro, Sorel Mizzi who was the man unfortunate enough to pop it. Decided AcQc was good enough to play for his entire stack, Mizzi moved all in and found a caller in the shape of Charania, who had pocket tens. The gamble initially paid off for Mizzi as the first card out was an ace, followed by and eight and a two. The five of hearts on the turn kept him way in front but sometimes the Poker Gods, and karma, get their own back and they put out the Td on the river to send him to the rail in seventh place, worth $88,802.

When play resumes in the Connecticut casino later this afternoon it will be Marchese who is pole position and a huge favourite to claim his first WPT title and the $548,752 first prize. Incidentally, just reaching this final table should be enough to claim the top spot of the CardPlayer Player of the Year standings from Dwyte Pilgrim.

Seating assignment when play resumes

Seat1: Nikoli Yakovenko: 624,000 (26 big blinds)
Seat 2: Jeff Forrest: 1,949,000 (81 big blinds)
Seat 3: Thomas Marchese: 3,022,000 (125 big blinds)
Seat 4: Dave Inselberg: 344,000 (14 big blinds)
Seat 5: Keven Stammen: 341,000 (14 big blinds)
Seat 6: Moshin Charania: 1,024,000 (42 big blinds)