David Pham Heads World Poker Challenge Final Table

Twenty-one players were eliminated in almost eight hours Tuesday at the World Poker Challenge, setting up the last six players in the field for the final television table.  David “The Dragon” Pham garnered almost $1.3 million in chips over the course of the day to vault into the lead.  Sitting at $1.655 million in chips, he is looking down at Juan Carlos Alvarado ($1.107 million), J.C. Tran ($904,000), Danny Wong ($623,000), Mark Seif ($325,000), and John Hom ($119,000).  Tran and Hom started the day outside of the top ten, while the other four held the top four stacks (not in that order, however).  Interestingly, Hom actually ended the day with fewer chips than he did to start the day, making his rise from fifteenth to sixth quite the accomplishment.

Seif, the chip leader going into Day 3, went on a roller coaster ride.  He continued his winning ways early, being the first to crack the $1 million chip mark.  But a couple big hands sent him spiraling downward.  Pham nailed him once, catching his gutshot straight draw on the winner to take almost $200,000 from Seif.  Later, Tran doubled-up through Seif, grabbing approximately $250,000 from the 2005 World Series of Poker double bracelet winner, when his K-2 hit pay dirt on the turn against Seif’s pocket 4’s.

Final table play will begin at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada at 5:00pm Pacific today.  The winner will take home $683,473.