Who Will Be Crowned as the GIANT Winner Today?
Welcome back to the final table of Event #6: $365 GIANT No-Limit Hold'em which starts at 2 p.m. local time here in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. The nine remaining players will be taking their seats in the Brasilia Room to fight it out for that first-place prize of $250,000 and the gold WSOP bracelet. The player leading the fray to follow in last year’s winner Dieter Dechant’s footsteps is Renato Kaneoya with 56,100,000 in chips.
Kaneoya is going for his biggest WSOP cash which is also his fifth this summer in what seems to be his first summer here in Las Vegas. Luis Vazquez is trailing in second place with 42,700,000 and will be looking to make his second WSOP cash a personal best.
Alexander Lahkov is sitting in third place with 38,300,000 and is the last player that is sporting an above-average chip stack. Lakhov is no stranger to the WSOP and definitely not to the poker circuit in general. This will be his second final table of the summer after finishing in eighth place in Event #39: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout and he will be looking to improve on that result.
This is what they are all playing for:
| 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 |
Bracelet winner Daniel Fuhs is still in the running too with 18 big blinds. The final table is set to be an interesting one as there are three players with above average stacks and the rest will all be looking to win some pots from the start to even out the field. Kevin Rines (21,500,000), Jeremy Perrin (19,000,000), Svetlozar Nestorov (13,100,000), Lawrence Chan (7,900,000), and Matthew Smith (7,100,000) will be bringing their best from the start so be ready to expect some fireworks.
Hand-for-hand coverage will be provided from the start today when the players return to finish Level 35 which features a small blind of 500,000, big blind of 1,000,000, and a running ante of 150,000. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there from the “Shuffle up and deal” to the final applause for the new champion so make sure to follow all the updates!
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 | Bulgaria | 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 |