Final table set at Bellagio’s World Poker Tour World Championship

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, May 19, 2011 | 12:50 a.m.

One of poker’s toughest final tables usually emerges annually at the World Poker Tour World Championship.

This year’s $25,000 buy-in tournament at the Bellagio lives up to that reputation. The six players who emerged after six days of action Thursday evening have combined live tournament earnings of more than $10 million.

Two recent standouts, Galen Hall and Scott Seiver, will virtually share the chip lead when play starts again at 4 Friday afternoon at the Fontana Lounge. The first-place prize is worth $1.6 million.

“This is my first WPT final table,” Seiver told the World Poker Tour site after play Wednesday. “I’m extremely excited for it. Hopefully, I can make it memorable and win it.”

Hall has a stack of 5.09 million chips, while Seiver has amassed 5.07 million. The difference between the two works out to five antes on the current level of play.

Seiver, a 26-year old who lives in Las Vegas, won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2008 and is known to crush local cash games. He has around $2.3 million in career tournament earnings, which is about $100,000 less than Hall.

The 24-year old Hall burst onto the scene earlier this year by winning one of the most notable tournaments on the circuit, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, for $2.3 million.

“I just made two final tables in Madrid, too, but didn’t close either,” Hall told the WPT site Tuesday. “So, I’ve got some wood to knock on for this one.”

Two other notables who advanced to the televised final table are Las Vegas pro Justin Young and Freddy Bonyadi, who resides in Los Angeles. Bonyadi owns three World Series of Poker bracelets with the most recent coming in 2005. Young is also around the $2.3 million mark in career earnings, but a major tournament win has eluded him to this point.

It was originally expected to take an extra day to play down to six players. A few rounds were supposed to take place Thursday, but that became unnecessary when the starting field of 225 trimmed faster than anticipated.

“On one hand, I like it because I’m exhausted,” Seiver said. “I’m tired and the day off I’m sure will help me recuperate. But thinking about it, I feel everyone else has to be tired and exhausted, too, and I might be able to do better on less energy or thought than them. So the day off might help them more than me.”

Below are the official chip counts headed to the final table.

1. Galen Hall, San Francisco, 5.095 million

2. Scott Seiver, Las Vegas, 5.075 million

3. Tony Gargano, Detroit, 3.885 million

4. Roger Teska, Bloomington, Ind., 3.725 million

5. Freddy Bonyadi, Los Angeles, 2.470 million

6. Justin Young, Las Vegas, 1.750 million

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.