Championship: John Dollinger Leads the Final Thirteen

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  13  of 843

John Dollinger

From a starting field of 843 entries, just 13 players remain as Day 3 comes to a close.

Thanks to a few big pots during the last level of the night, John Dollinger (pictured) will bring the big stack into Day 4. Dollinger bagged 4,900,000, giving him more than 98 big blinds at the Day 4 starting level.

WPT Main Event Champions Brian Altman, Chanracy Khun, and James Caderaro are still in the hunt, as well as WSOP bracelet winner Sam Soverel.

Here’s the lineup:

Table 30

Seat 1: Peter Walsworth – 4,050,000 (81 bb)
Seat 2: Nadya Magnus – 4,015,000 (80 bb)
Seat 3: Brian Altman – 4,390,000 (88 bb)
Seat 4: Billy Pilossoph – 1,295,000 (26 bb)
Seat 5: Chanracy Khun – 3,570,000 (71 bb)
Seat 6: — empty —
Seat 7: Nadeem Hirani – 1,460,000 (29 bb)
Seat 8: Aaron Rosenthal – 585,000 (12 bb)

Table 40

Seat 1: John Dollinger – 4,900,000 (98 bb)
Seat 2: Sam Soverel – 1,765,000 (35 bb)
Seat 3: — empty —
Seat 4: Ian Gillespie – 1,890,000 (38 bb)
Seat 5: — empty —
Seat 6: Scott Drobes – 1,950,000 (39 bb)
Seat 7: Hiroaki Harada – 2,425,000 (49 bb)
Seat 8: James Calderaro – 1,805,000 (36 bb)

The day began with WPT Champion Brian Altman sitting atop the counts. He parlayed his big stack into the second biggest stack going into Day 4.

The list of those who fell during Day 2 is a long one littered with tournament poker standouts including WPT Champions club members, Lee Markholt, Mike Vela, Anthony Zinno, and Darren Elias.

The thirteen players who did survive the day will return to action on Tuesday to play down to final table of six. Blinds will be 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante when play resumes.

Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $30,091, but there’s much more to play for than that. The winner will collect the series’ most desirable trophy and the top payout of $482,636.

Day 4 begins at noon local time.

Chip Counts:

John Dollinger – 4,900,000
Brian Altman – 4,390,000
Peter Walsworth – 4,050,000
Nadya Magnus – 4,015,000
Chanracy Khun – 3,570,000
Hiroaki Harada – 2,425,000
Scott Drobes – 1,950,000
Ian Gillespie – 1,890,000
James Calderaro – 1,805,000
Sam Soverel – 1,765,000
Nadeem Hirani – 1,460,000
Billy Pilossoph – 1,295,000
Aaron Rosenthal – 585,000