History in the Making? Hellmuth and Zinno in Contention at the LAPC

Things are lining up for a historic World Poker Tour final table in the 2018 LAPC Main Event. Poker Hall of Fame member and 14-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth is in contention headed into Day 4, as well as three-time WPT winner and former WPT Player of the Year Anthony Zinno.

While a WPT title is arguably the biggest title missing from Hellmuth’s long list of accomplishments, a win for Zinno would break multiple records. The Season XIII WPT Player of the Year has a chance this week to become the first ever player to win the same WPT event twice, and become the first ever player with four WPT titles.

On Monday, the field was brought down to 31 players, guaranteeing a payout of $27,830 for all remaining players lead by Jeremy White with 1.5 million chips. This marquee WPT event sports a million-dollar first-place prize and a field littered with big names headed into the crucial stages.

While Hellmuth and Zinno aren’t among the chip leaders, but with 70 and 39 big blinds respectively they are in a great position to chase a spot at the final table. Top pros Chance Kornuth, Toby Lewis, Marc MacDonnell, Garrett Greer, Mike Sowers, Billy Baxter, and WPT Champions Club member Zachary Smiley are also still in contention.

Phil Hellmuth’s WPT Final Tables
Year	Event	Place	Payout
2002	Gold Rush Bonanza	4th	$34,000
2003	World Poker Finals	3rd	$281,700
2008	Los Angeles Poker Classic	6th	$229,820
2010	Bay 101 Shooting Stars	6th	$117,000
2017	Legends of Poker	2nd	$364,370

 

Anthony Zinno’s WPT Wins
Year	Event	Payout	Entries
2015	Los Angeles Poker Classic	$1,015,860	538
2015	Fallsview Poker Classic	$302,235	419
2013	Borgata Poker Open	$825,099	1,189

Big names falling short of Day 4, but finishing in the money, include Mike Del Vecchio (35^th – $23,990), Andy Frankenberger (36^th – $23,990), Joe McKeehen (37^th – $23,990), Will Failla (43^rd – $20,950), Jake Bazeley (50^th – $18,550), Anthony Spinella (56^th – $18,550), Eddy Sabat (58^th – $16,640) and former Super High Roller Bowl champion Rainer Kempe was the first to get knocked out in the money for $16,640 in 62^nd place.

The top 10 stacks returning for Day 4 are as follows.

Rank	Name	Chip Count
1	Jeremy White	1,552,000
2	Manuel Martinez	1,035,000
3	Dennis Blieden	907,000
4	Chance Kornuth	715,000
5	Toby Lewis	670,000
6	Mark Briggs	666,000
7	Benjamin Zamani	650,000
8	John Misirian	600,000
9	Victor Crisotomo	591,000
10	Phil Hellmuth	566,000

The World Poker Tour live blog continues with coverage on Tuesday, and the live stream will be exclusively on PokerGO on Thursday at 7:30pm ET. Commentary provided during the LAPC final table will be by Dave Farra and reigning WSOP Main Event champion Scott Blumstein.