Who Will Win the Record-Breaking 2017 Seniors Championship?
The record-breaking field of 5,389 entries in Event #31: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship has been reduced to the final nine. Those players will return at 12 noon today in order to determine a champion over on the feature table in the Brasilia room.
The lion's share of the $4,850,100 prize pool is still up for grabs in this largest ever World Series of Poker Seniors Event. Right now all of the finalists are guaranteed at least $53,817 for their efforts, while the winner will walk home with an impressive payday of $617,303.
One of the finalists already knows the feeling of walking away with the elusive gold bracelet in this very event, as 2014 Seniors champion Dan Heimiller will return with the fourth-biggest stack (2,970,000). Heimiller dominated at the top of the counts for most of Day 3 before running his pocket kings into the pocket aces of Frank Maggio. Maggio enters the final table second in chips with 4,910,000, narrowly behind leader Mark Lillge (5,300,000), while William Murray starts today in third position with 4,000,000.
The other finalists include Anthony Licastro (2,800,000), Lewis LeClair (2,530,000), Dieter Dechant (2,375,000), Paul Spitzberg (1,320,000) and Gina Bacon as last woman standing (960,000).
Final Table Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gina Bacon | United States | 960,000 | 16 |
| 2 | Mark Lillge | United States | 5,300,000 | 88 |
| 3 | Paul Spitzberg | United States | 1,320,000 | 22 |
| 4 | Anthony Licastro | United States | 2,800,000 | 47 |
| 5 | Lewis LeClair | United States | 2,530,000 | 42 |
| 6 | William Murray | United States | 4,000,000 | 67 |
| 7 | Dan Heimiller | United States | 2,970,000 | 50 |
| 8 | Frank Maggio | United States | 4,910,000 | 82 |
| 9 | Dieter Dechant | United States | 2,375,000 | 40 |
There are just under 51 minutes left in Level 29 with blinds of 40,000/80,000 and a running ante of 10,000. When play resumes PokerNews live reporting team will be providing hand-for-hand coverage from the live-streamed feature table until a winner is crowned.