Tu Dao Leads Final Six Following Impressive Performance as Day 2 of Event #77: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Concludes Ahead of Schedule
After more than nine hours of play here at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, the clock was paused once the final six players had been decided. Tu Dao got off to an early lead after eliminating Calvin Anderson in the second level and the Canadian didn’t look back from there, remaining at the front of the pack for the remainder of the day. She takes 954,000 through to the final.
Dao’s closest rival is Alain Alinat. The Frenchman battled with a short stack at several points today, finally finishing on 805,000, a large chunk of which came from eliminating Alex Torry in 7th place. Oleg Chebotarev (672,000) rounds out the top three, with Jan Suchanek (599,000), Chad Eveslage (431,000) and Ian O’Hara (410,000) completing the final six.
Of the 193 total runners, 57 returned today and 51 were eliminated over the course of the day. Some of the notables to finish outside of the money were defending champion Yaser Al-Keliddar, Joe McKeehen, Dan Matsuzuki, two-time 2019 WSOP bracelet winner Robert Campbell, Marco Johnson and Kevin Song.
A little under halfway through the day, the bubble burst in record time, with James Little being the last player to exit without a payday. The eliminations came in thick and fast after that and again, many notables were among the casualties. They included Greg Mueller, Joao Vieira, Daniel Zack, Georgios Sotiropoulos, Day 1 chip leader Ron Carmona, Max Pescatori, Stuart Rutter, Mark Radoja (18th), Ian Johns (17th), Patrick Leonard (15th), Christopher Vitch (11th) and Jeff Shulman (8th).
The six remaining hopefuls will return on Thursday, July 11 at noon to complete the 51 minutes left of Level 20, with blinds at 15,000/30,000. Each has secured themselves at least $19,687 but with a very attractive $133,189 up top, they will undoubtedly have their eyes firmly on first place, with the title and WSOP bracelet to accompany the prize money.
In addition to live updates from PokerNews, the tournament will also be streamed on Poker Go, with a 30-minute delay. With excitement expected from the outset, tune in to find out who will be crowned the winner when play resumes on Thursday.