Keith Ferrera Leads Remaining 90 Players into Day 3 of WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown

By Tim Duckworth

The Season XVII WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 Main Event continues from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, with 90 players remaining from the 1,360-entry field. Players are currently guaranteed $7,620, but all eyes are on the $715,175 first-place prize and $15,000 entry into the season-ending Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.

Leading the field into the penultimate day of play is Las Vegas-based poker pro Keith Ferrera (pictured) who amassed a chip stack of 1,905,000. Ferrera has amassed over $1.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings with over $70,000 of those winnings coming on the World Poker Tour. Back in Season X, Ferrera reached the final table of WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open here at the Seminole Hard Rock before finishing in sixth place for $42,185.

Trailing Ferrera are Jerry Wong (1,470,000), WPT Champions Club member Aaron Mermelstein (1,425,000), and Antonios Roungeris (1,270,000).  Fourteen players sit with chip stacks over one million in chips, while other notable players surviving into Day 3 include WPT Champions Club members Eric Afriat, James Carroll, Justin Young, Erik Seidel, Patrick, Niall Farrell, Seth Davies, Will Failla, Frank Stepuchin, Darren Elias, Harrison Gimbel, and WPTDeepStacks Champion Maria Ho.

In the Season XVII Hublot WPT Player of the Year race it is Stepuchin providing the biggest sweat to current leader Erkut Yilmaz. Currently, Stepuchin sits on 1,300 points and trails Yilmaz who sits with 2,300. If Stepuchin can finish in at least fourth-place, he will be at least tied with Yilmaz. Serda (1,250 points), Elias (1,250), Dave Farah (1,200), Shankar Pillai (1,050), and Danny Qutami (950) are the only other players remaining that can dethrone Yilmaz in this event.

Day 3 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown kicks off at 12 p.m. (EDT) and there will be just five 90-minute levels throughout the day with a 15-minute break after each level and no scheduled dinner break.

Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the next WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive

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