$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

Vince Van Patten’s dream of becoming a WPT champion hit a bump in the road against Lenny Duvdivani.

After a flop, Van Patten fired out 175,000.  After having some light-hearted fun and providing a little color commentary on his own hand, Duvdivani went over the top declaring himself all-in.  Vince snap-called but his trademark smile turned into a frown as Duvdivani showed for a set of fives while Vince was holding for top pair.  Vince got no help and Duvdivani doubled up leaving Van Patten around 850,000 chips.

Ever the optimist, Mike Sexton was watching the hand and called out “It’s just a double-fault, Vince!”  Will it be game, set, match for Van Patten or will he ace his way to the final table?  We’ll find out soon.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

A short-stacked Ravi Raghavan moved all in for 271,000 total and it was folded to Shankar Pillai who also moved all in. The rest of the table folded and the two were off to the races with Raghavan holding and Pillai .

The flop brought a little something for everyone as it came to give Raghavan a set of eights but he wasn’t out of the woods yet as Pillai flopped the nut flush draw. The turn was the , changing nothing. The river was the giving Raghavan a full house and a double up to 610,000 in chips. Pillai dropped to 250,000 with that loss.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

Praveen Ponnaganti is Sean Shah’s latest victim.

Ponnaganti pushed all of his 539,000 chips in pre-flop and was called by Sean Shah.  Ponnaganti showed and Shah flipped up taking the lead in the hand.

Ponnaganti got no help on the board and was knocked out in 38th place for $15,900.

In the meantime, Sean Shah continues to roll taking his stack to 2,550,000 and climbing fast here in our championship event.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

46th: Gregory White (Niantic, CT) – $13,750
47th: Ivan Sheptytskyi (Malibu, CA) – $13,750
48th: Eddie Turner (Lutz, FL) – $13,750
49th: Massoud Eskandari (Mission Viejo, CA) – $13,750
50th: Jared Jaffee (Brooklyn, NY) – $13,750
51st: Brett Trevillian (MacQuarie Hills, AU) – $13,750
52nd: Faraz Jaka (San Jose, CA) – $13,750
53rd: Scott Zakheim (Davie, FL) – $13,750
54th: Mario Cano (Bayside, NY) – $13,750

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

Dan Heimiller was short-stacked and moved all in first to act for his last 233,000. It was folded to Andre Crooks who also moved all in, having Heimiller well covered. The rest of the table folded and Heimiller said “yikes” when he saw Crooks as he turned over .

The flop gave Crooks a set as it came but it actually gave Heimiller one more out than he had pre-flop as a jack would give him a straight. He mentioned this, saying “more outs” but the dealer put out the on the turn leading Heimiller to stand up and start gathering his things.

The old stand up trick worked again as the dealer put out the on the river to give Heimiller the straight. “Whew,” said Heimiller as he tapped the table twice, having doubled up to just over 500,000 in chips.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

55th: Brian Hastings (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – $12,000
56th: Nancy Birnbaum (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – $12,000
57th: Noah Schwartz (Sunny Isles Beach, FL) – $12,000
58th: Julie Le (Huntington Beach, CA) – $12,000
59th: Kevin Eyster (Lafayette, LA) – $12,000
60th: Samuel Bernabeu (Elda, ES) – $12,000
61st: Austin Peck (Allen, TX) – $12,000
62nd: Ernest Evans (Brentwood, CA) – $12,000
63rd: Phounsavath Philachack (Garland, TX) – $12,000

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

And it’s now an all-boys club here at the WPT Poker Showdown.  The last woman remaining, Esther Taylor-Brady, has fallen.

Taylor-Brady pushed the last of her stack in the middle and Ryan Rivers made the call.   When the cards were flipped up, Taylor-Brady saw the bad news.

Taylor-Brady:
Rivers:

Taylor-Brady was behind with her tournament life on the line and the flop was not kind to her.  A board of rolled off leaving her only running queens or straight cards to save her. She did get a little help for a chop with the but the showed up on the river and she was eliminated in 45th place.

Taylor-Brady was the last woman in the field so the World Poker Tour’s streak of not having a female main event champion continues.

Fought real hard with 2-10bbs all of today and busted 45th @shrpo @WPT grateful to have a shot at it! Thanks for everyone’s support!

— esther taylor-brady (@e_tay) April 20, 2015

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

64th: Ting Ho (Las Vegas, NV) – $10,250
65th: Tyler Denson (New Smyrna Beach, FL) – $10,250
66th: Long Tran (Newton, MA) – $10,250
67th: Antonio Salorio (Coral Springs, FL) – $10,250
68th: Nader Bahhur (Boca Raton, FL) – $10,250
69th: Yunior Bella (Miami, FL) – $10,250
70th: John Krpan (Oakville, ON) – $10,250
71st: Sergio Vigano (Marlton NJ) – $10,250
72nd: Eugene Todd (Brooklyn, NY) – $10,250

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 24: 12,000/24,000/4,000 Ante

With approximately 175,000 in the middle and a flop of , Vladimir Dobrovolskiy bet 81,000 leading to a call from Jim Casement and a fold from Shankar Pillai.

The turn was the and Dobrovolskiy bet 100,000 this time and Casement quickly called. The river was the and both players checked. Dobrovolskiy turned over for the king high straight and Casement mucked his hand.

With that pot, Dobrovolskiy moved to approximately 3.1 million in chips, trailing only Ely Levy who has 3.6 million.