ELPAYAA SURVIVES STRONG FT TO WIN VENETIAN DEEPSTACK III

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: POKERPAGES.com

It was a tough assignment for Adam Elpayaa - win a big event, collect your first big victory of your career oh, and try and defeat well known experienced pros along the way.


Well, Adam Elpayaa did just that, and did it in fine fashion - besting Jonathan Neckar heads up.

The chip leader heading into FT play was Tim Kahlmeyer - although things didn't go well for him, he wasn't able to grab control of the table and ended up in sixth position.

WSOPC New Orleans Regional runner-up Gary Friedlander was one of the favorites heading into final table play - he played a fine game, finishing third on the day.

Dan O'Brien had the twitter rail going - many of his friend hoping he could pull out a win - but alas, a respectful 5th place finish will have to do.

Both Friedlander and O'Brien have crossed the century mark in PTPR Points for the season.

William Reynolds, Sam Grizzle, Jonathan Little, Tony Cousineau, Matthew Waxman and Jennifer Tilly were some on the outside looking in, but, were still able to collect a little cash in the event.

Here are the final table payouts:
1 Adam Elpayaa $420,092
2 Jonathan Neckar $254,860
3 Gary Friedlander $170,665
4 Robert Zlatkiss $119,028
5 Daniel O'Brien $89,271
6 Tim Kahlmeyer $70,017
7 Dustin Graves $59,164
8 Anthony Gregg $49,012
9 Tony Sinishtaj $42,010


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III
No Limit Hold'em Main Event
July 13-16, 2011

Venetian Hotel Casino | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $5,000 | Prizepool: $1,813,900 | Entries: 374

POINTS AT STAKE:
ADAM ELPAYAA 103
JONATHAN NECKAR 63
GARY FRIEDLANDER 38
ROBERT ZLATKISS 28
DANIEL O'BRIEN 21
TIM KAHLMEYER 13
DUSTIN GRAVES 11
ANTHONY GREGG 8
TONY SINISTAJ 8

PTS AT STAKE: KAHLMEYER LEADS AS FT PLAY SET TO BEGIN AT DEEPSTACK MAIN

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: VENETIAN.com

We have reached final table play at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III Main Event.

The tournament, which started with 374 runners each putting up 5K to play, has nine players remaining, all hoping to win the Championship, and collect over 400K in the process.


German pro Tim Kahlmeyer enters final table play with the chip lead - he has 1.7M in chips. Kahlmeyer (pictured) has been a very active pro these past few years, collecting many cashes around the world, however, he has yet to collect a big win on the circuit, this title would certainly help solidify his place in poker.

Gary Friedlander is fourth in chips - the WSOPC New Orleans 10K Regional runner-up player is looking for his first title of the season, while popular pro Dan O'Brien - fresh off two PTPR Scores at the WSOP (both in NLH six-handed events) - is looking to get things done early, he's a tad under the average chip count at 813K.

Here are the final table seat assignments/chip counts:
Seat 1 | Anthony Gregg 664K
Seat 2 | Tony Sinishtaj 753K
Seat 3 | Gary Friedlander 998K
Seat 4 | Johnny Neckar 670K
Seat 5 | Dustin Graves 1.6M
Seat 6 | Robert Zlatkiss 571K
Seat 7 | Adam Elpayaa 1.4M
Seat 8 | Tim Kahlmeyer 1.7M
Seat 9 | Daniel O'Brien 813K

Play is set to begin at 2PM Pacific Time.


PTPR CHALLENGER EVENT
Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza III
No Limit Hold'em Main Event
July 13-16, 2011

Venetian Hotel Casino | Las Vegas
Buy-in: $5,000 | Prizepool: $1,813,900 | Entries: 374

POINTS AT STAKE:
1st place 103
2nd place 63
3rd place 38
4th place 28
5th place 21
6th place 13
7th place 11
8th place 8
9th place 8