After 5 days of play the final table is set for the $10k WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown and Joe Serock not only held on to the lead he held at the end of day 4 but increased it substantially to end the day the dominant chip leader - having more than double the chips of his nearest rival with his 3.14m chips dwarfing John Dolan's 1.45 million.
It's been quite a couple of months for Serock who, only last month took 3rd in the WPT Championship Bounty at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars for $320,400. Serock is no stranger to final tables having twice been runner up in WSOP events (in a $2.5k NLHE event in 2009 and in the $5000 PLO event at WSOP Europe in 2010). Serock will be hoping for no less than his first major tournament and the $780k prize money for first place in this instance however. His intentions were even made clear in his choice of clothing - a T Shirt sporting the refrain, "All I want for Christmas is a WPT title"
It wasn't all plain sailing for Serock however as his starting chip count of just over a million slipped consistently during the early play losing several small but significant pots to Tommy Vedes - leaving Serock with only half his starting stack. Things were to change however and a key double up with Serock's JJ outlasting Robert Georato's 10 10 all in pre-flop to put him back in contention. After this Serock went on a bit of a tear, eliminating several players on his way to the final table including David Parades, Fred Goldberg and Jess Yawitz, who he eliminated in 7th place, on the TV bubble.
With six players in contention and with blinds soon to be raised to 15k/30k with a 5k ante Serock's chip lead is substantial but by no means invincible. The action starts shortly and you can watch with a 30 minute delay here
The final six also contains last years final tablist Tommy Vedes, although with only 590k in chips he sits as the short stack and will have his work cut out to better his last year sixth place finish.
Full Chip Counts
1. Joe Serock – 3,137,000
2. John Dolan – 1,454,000
3. Sharon Levin – 1,216,000
4. Craig Bergeron – 1,235,000
5. Kyle Bowker – 1,070,000
6.Tommy Vedes – 590,000
Payouts
1. $779,520
2. $459,360
3. $306,240
4. $212,976
5. $158,688
6. $122,496