James Dempsey won the first heat of Group A and he has just won the third, which means he the overall winner of Group A, having amassed a very impressive total of 24 points. four more than his nearest rival Max Pescatori.
Dempsey was all but assured a place on Thursday’s final table at the start of the day because he already had 16 points so the media’s attention switched focus to the players who could still make it through, Luke Schwartz, Jennifer Tilly, Tony G and Matt Giannetti.
Schwartz was very unlikely to progress as he needed not only to win but hope Tilly and Giannetti, who were using their double up cards, to bust early on. This did not happen, instead it was Schwartz going for an early bath. First he lost a coinflip against Tony G to leave him with less than one big blind and he was eliminated shortly afterwards.
Pesctori was the next player to be busted out when he got his money in with a flush draw against the top pair of Giannetti and failed to hit. The Italian had already secured his place at the final table by winning Heat 2 yesterday so he was not too bothered about busting out.
Tony G’s tournament ended shortly afterwards. Knowing he had to gamble to knock Giannetti out to stand any chance of victory, he found himself all in with 
against the American’s pocket queen, which held and the final table was all but set.
The only way Tilly could progress now was to win and have Giannetti finish in third spot but any thoughts of that happening were soon dashed when she was all in with pocket sixes against the ace three of Giannetti. The actress-come-poker player flopped a set but Giannetti went runner-runner for a full house to send her to the rail with only six points, not enough to make it to the final table.
This left Dempsey and Giannetti to battle it out heads up, Giannetti leading by almost two-to-one. The match started off in a very cagey manner but a huge pot saw the roles reversed and put Dempsey on top. Dempsey raised with 
and then moved over the top of Giannetti’s three-bet. Giannetti called the all in with 
and when the board ran out 
it was advantage Dempsey.
Less than 20-minutes later and it was all over. Giannetti found himself all in with 
and in bad shape against the 
of Dempsey. The latter flopped two jacks and that was it, Dempsey picked up maximum points again and he will be on the final table with Giannetti and Pescatori on Thursday.
Final Group A Standings
James Dempsey: 24 points
Max Pescatori: 20 points
Matt Giannetti: 19 points
Tony G: 10 points
Luke Schwartz: 6 points
Jennifer Tilly: 6 points
