#TheCupAwaits: Scott Margereson Leads Final 14 Players Into Day 4 of WPT Seminole Showdown

Day 4 of the Season XVI WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship is here, and Scott Margereson leads the final 14 players with a towering chip position. With a stack of 9.21 million, Margereson has more than double his closest competitor, Joey Couden with 4.06 million, and nearly 25% of the total chips in play.

Margereson is an English player who is making his first WPT Main Tour cash. He entered this event with more than $570,000 in career live tournament earnings, according to HendonMob.com, and his previous best score was for $107,723.

The final 14 players come from a field of 1,309 entries, the fifth largest WPT Main Tour field size in history, and they’re all guaranteed $43,445 in prize money for making it this far. Up top for the champion is $696,740 in first-place prize money that includes a $15,000 seat to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The winner will also receive a luxurious Hublot Big Bang Steel watch.

Couden, who poses the most imminent threat to Margereson, is making his eighth WPT Main Tour cash. His previous best result in a WPT Main Tour event came in the Season XI WPT Part Open Poker Classic when Couden took seventh for $47,215. In third place on the leaderboard with 3.825 million in chips is Tanner Millen. Millen is making his fourth WPT Main Tour cash, with his previous best being a 26th-place result from the Season XIV WPT Borgata Poker Open.

Rounding out the top five on the leaderboard are Brian Hastings and Joseph Cheong, both very strong players with more than $14.85 million in combined live tournament earnings. Hastings owns three WSOP gold bracelets and Cheong has 18 six-figure cashes from live events, but neither of these players has won a WPT title. In fact, both Hastings and Cheong are searching for their first WPT final table.

Another notable player looking for his first WPT title is Faraz Jaka, who enters Day 4 with 2.36 million in chips. Jaka entered this event with more than $5.68 million in live tournament earnings, including four prior WPT Main Tour final tables. He’s also won the Season VIII WPT Player of the Year title.

Victor Ramdin is the only WPT Champions Club member left in the field, bringing 775,000 into Day 4.

Another story to keep an eye on is the run of Zach Donovan, who is currently 20th in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race. Donovan could jump all the way to as high as second place with a victory. By reaching the final 14 players, Donovan has already moved up to at least eighth place in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race, leapfrogging WPT Raw Deal host Phil Hellmuth. Sitting in sixth chip position with 2.765 million, Donovan is well-positioned to move up even further.

Day 4 of the Season XVI WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship begins at 12 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The goal is to play down to the televised final table of six. Stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage.

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