Play is now underway as the final six begin their battle.
2022 The Lodge Championship Series
It is time for the final day of the Lodge Poker Championships, which will be concluded with the much-anticipated final six of Event #13: $5,000 Main Event. The final six players will return to play at 2 p.m. local time, with the live stream starting 30 minutes after that on the Lodge youtube channel, PokerNews updates will follow the action of the live stream. They will all be shooting for the $417,800 grand prize.
The final six is a dandy, headlined by none other than Lodge Poker Club part-owner Doug Polk who enters fifth in chips with 2,105,000 good for 35 big blinds. Polk took on this new project in Round Rock around January and has turned the Lodge into one of the more popular places for cards in the state of Texas and is now attracting nationwide poker aficionados. This main event cash is actually Polk��s first tournament cash since 2017 as he has started to jump back into poker playing more since he joined the Lodge and he has not been shy about sharing his results as he has indicated that this final six finish has made him ��unstuck�� playing at the Lodge. He will be looking to unstick himself even more with a higher finish.
Final Table
SEAT | PLAYER | HOMETOWN | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
1 | Steven Rivero | Hialeah, FL | 3,495,000 | 58 |
3 | Alain Bauer | Scotland | 7,880,000 | 131 |
4 | Daniel Jones | Las Vegas, NV | 1,740,000 | 29 |
5 | Eric Afriat | Miami Beach, FL | 9,355,000 | 156 |
6 | Doug Polk | Las Vegas, NV | 2,105,000 | 35 |
9 | Nir Cohen | Brooklyn, NY | 6,225,000 | 104 |
Outside of Polk there are five others who are aiming for a huge score of their own. Leading the pack in chips is Eric Afriat with 9,355,000, which is 156 big blinds. The Canadian player will cross the 4 million in career earnings threshold with this result. A win would make for his fourth-largest career score, the largest being for over 1 million in 2014 with a WPT main event title in Florida. Afriat has shown impeccable timing and hand control throughout this tournament. It was on display yesterday as he won several decent size pots with well-played hands and knowing where his opponent was at. He is a serious factor to win the title here today.
Second in chips to start is Alain Bauer with 7,880,000. The Scottish-Frenchman has made quite the splash here in Round Rock throughout the series. He finished for third for $52,054 in Event #10: $5,000 High Roller just a few days ago in the early morning finish epic tournament. This series has been somewhat a revival for Bauer most of his results prior to this week come from several years ago in European tournaments. His interesting style and loquacious manner at the table has been a focus for attention for many players in this event as he comes into this final six as a bit of the wildcard factor and will be fun to watch today to see what he does.
Third in chips is Nir Cohen of Brooklyn with 6,225,000 chips. Cohen has just over $6,000 in career earnings as this young player is looking to make his first big splash on the poker scene. He has shown several moments in this tournament that indicate he is ready for this level of play and will be a player to watch moving forward after this first big score for him.
Steven Rivero is fourth in chips with 3,495,000. The native of Hialeah, FL has about $30,000 in career live earnings, almost all of it coming in the 2021 WSOP Main Event for $23,9000 for a 484th place finish.
And as the short stack with 1,740,000 to enter the day is Daniel Jones, the Texas native who now calls Las Vegas home. Jones has over $700,000 in career earnings, which is the most at the table outside of Polk and Afriat. If he is able to get himself off the foot of the chip counts and latter up even just one spot, he will guarantee himself his largest career tournament score, surpassing his previous largest of $97,000 from 2018 in for a runner-up performance in WSOPC Choctaw.
Play will start back up at at 32:38 left in Level 25 with blinds at 30,000/60,000 where they will play down to the winner.
As mentioned, PokerNews will be on hand reporting based off of the live stream so as to not provide any spoilers ahead of time.
Event #13: $3,000 Main Event
Day 4 Started