Alan Boston Sits Atop WPT Championship

Making the leap from 17th to 1st position and more than tripling his chip stack, Alan Boston took over the lead at the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas after Day Three. Day Three featured many more exits than either of the previous two days, 180 all told, as the blinds were steeper and there was not nearly as much parity amongst the chip stacks.

The hand that gave Boston the lead, and also the largest pot of the day, occurred approximately a half-hour after the final break. Boston held pocket 9’s against John D’Agostino’s Q-9 suited. The flop came Q-9-5 and D’Agostino, who must have justifiably believed he had the best hand, was all-in by the time the last card was turned. Boston pulled in a sizeable pot and didn’t look back.

Boston holds a substantial 112,200 tournament chip lead on 2nd place David Colclough, while the chip leader to start the day, Scotty Nguyen, was still holding strong in 9th place with 312,100 chips.

Notable exits included Howard Lederer, T.J. Cloutier, Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Sam Farha, and actor Tobey Maguire.

Day Four will start with 164 players remaining.