JJ Liu is 5 Diamond Final Table Chip Leader
Dr. Pauly is at the Bellagio with camera and laptop for tonight's Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic WPT Championship. He will be live blogging the event at his website, TaoPoker.blogspot.com, beginning at 7:00PM PST, 10:00PM for the East Coast. Check it out-FlipChip
Joanne 'JJ' Liu is the final table chip leader at the Five Diamond Championship at the Bellagio.
The final table for the 2005 Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic is set with the top six finishers in the $15,000 + $500 buy-in WPT sanctioned Championship Event. The survivors from the 555 entrants that began on Monday will gather at 7:00PM Friday evening to determine the champion. The table will seat the following players, listed according to seat assignment with hometown and chip count:
1. Darrell Dicken, Waterloo, IA, $3,510,000
2. Patrick Antonius, Helsinki, Sweden, $1,755,000
3. Rehne Pedersen, Aalvong, Denmark, $3,225,000
4. Joanne 'J.J.' Liu, Palo Alto, CA, $3,630,000
5. Phil 'Unabomber' Laak, Los Angeles, CA, $2,505,000
6. Doyle Brunson, Las Vegas, NV, $2,025,000
Doyle 'Texas Dolly' Brunson playing in the Five Diamond Championship event at the Bellagio.
The six finalist include two great European players, Rehne Pedersen and Patrik Antonius. Although Patrik had been the tournament chip leader thoughout the event he suffered some devastating hands on day #4 and comes into tonight's final table as the short stack. The always entertaining Phil "Unabomber" Laak will be in top form with plenty of chips to back up his often unpredictable aggressive style of play. The crowd's favorite will undoubtedly be the reining Godfather of poker, Doyle Brunson. The grand master of the green felt may be adding another major championship to his long list of victories that includes a record ten World Series of Poker championships. Darrell Dicken, fabled Internet player from Iowa, is sitting in the second spot on the chip list after cashing three times during the WSOP this past summer.
Phil 'Unabomber' Laak playing in the Five Diamonds WPT Championship event at the Bellagio.
The chip leader is none other than Joanne 'JJ' Liu of Palo Alto, California. JJ made her first final table in a major poker event during the 1996 WSOP. Since then she has cashed in more than three dozen tournaments and is guaranteed to have her best money finish to date tonight since even sixth place pays $160,995. JJ's previous personal best cash was $85K.
The players are vying for a purse of $8,075,250. The winner will take home $2,078,185 in cash, a $25,000 + $500 seat in the 2006 WPT Championship scheduled for April 18 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Tonight's second place finisher also becomes a millionaire with $1,046,470 in prize money. The action begins at 7:00PM in the Fontana Room at the Bellagio Resort. The final table will be filmed for later broadcast on the Travel Channel's WPT Series.
Patrik Antonius of Finland playing in the Five Diamond $15K NLHE WPT Championship at the Bellagio.