Kaneoya Eyes Brazil's #5, Leads THE GIANT Final Table
The massive field of 8,920 entries has been reduced down to the last nine contenders in the $365 THE GIANT event which saw 527 players come back for Day 2. Most of the returning players survived with very short stacks and the field quickly plummeted down to a third after two levels of play. The pace seemed to never stop during the day and the busted players kept flooding the area at the payout desks.
The trend continued even on the final two tables, mainly thanks to huge surges of Renato Kaneoya and Alexander Lakhov. Kaneyoa pushed himself atop of the leaderboard when he peeled aces on the button, facing a raise and a three-bet all in from Amy Schwarz. He held against her nines and then continued torturing his opposition with a big stack.
THE GIANT Final Table:
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasilia | 60 | 1 | Daniel Fuhs | United States | 18,300,000 | 18 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 2 | Lawrence Chan | United States | 7,900,000 | 8 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 3 | Alexander Lakhov | Russia | 38,300,000 | 38 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 4 | Luis Vazquez | United States | 42,700,000 | 43 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 5 | Renato Kaneoya | Brazil | 56,100,000 | 56 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 6 | Matthew Smith | United States | 7,100,000 | 7 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 7 | Svetlozar Nestorov | United States | 13,100,000 | 13 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 8 | Kevin Rines | United States | 21,500,000 | 22 |
| Brasilia | 60 | 9 | Jeremy Perrin | United States | 19,000,000 | 19 |
With the average stack still very shallow, the vast majority of pots culminated in preflop contests and Kaneoya was the beneficiary. He was lucky enough to dispatch Carl DiVeglia III after shoving with four-high to bink two pair versus his ace-king.
In the meantime, Alexander Lakhov took care of Joel Gossett and Gregory Kolo on the other table and established himself among the favorites for the final table.
The 10-handed unofficial final table lasted for a few orbits with Luis Vazquez doubling his aces against Jordan Bamford's ace-queen. Vazquez then finished Bamford off to take the third place on the leaderboard.
Kaneoya (56,100,000), Vazquez (42,700,000) and Lakhov (38,300,000) are the only three players on the north side of the average mark with all other remaining players having around 20 big blinds or fewer.
That makes for an interesting setup ahead of the final table with $250,000 and the elusive bracelet awaiting the champion. A little bit of help with a solid card distribution can see any of the players quickly catapult their stacks to the top. On the other side, the ICM factor may cause some mayhem and a war of attrition between potential micro stacks.
With all of that taken into account, THE GIANT final table will surely be one worth to follow so make sure to come back Sunday, July 1, at 2 p.m. for the live updates as the PokerNews live reporting will bring a hand-for-hand coverage to your couch.
Final table payouts:
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 |
| 2 | $154,512 |
| 3 | $117,531 |
| 4 | $89,686 |
| 5 | $68,605 |
| 6 | $52,721 |
| 7 | $40,627 |
| 8 | $31,403 |
| 9 | $24,353 |