WSOP DAY 3: FORMER CHAMP STILL IN CONTENTION (Update)

18 July 2008

But many more top names eliminated


The last Infopowa coverage of the 39th World Series of Poker reported on the opening stages of Day 3 as far as the money bubble, after the survivors of Days 2A and B combined to start play with a field of 1 307.

Day 3 came to an end with 474 players qualified to go through to Day 4, and former WSOP champs Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan still in contention, albeit not in the top ten chip counts.

Steve Chung drew the cash line when he hit the rail in 667th place, missing out on a $21 000 cash prize, but winning a seat worth at least $10 000 in the 2009 Main Event.

Once the money bubble had been reached, Day 3 play became more exciting with a corresponding increase in the attrition rate that saw many players heading home, notably including Men 'The Master' Nguyen (651th); Vanessa Rousso (625th); Brandon Adams and Henning Granstad who had done so well in the early stages at 618th and 553rd respectively, Thor Hansen (600th) and Chan Giang at 518th.

Total playing time in Day 3 topped 11 hours, with two Jeremys - Joseph and Smith - heading the chip counts on 1.458 million and 1.0795 million respectively.

Day 3 survivors included Matt Matros, Mike Matusow, Hoyt Corkins, Jon Friedberg, Chip Jett, Gus Hansen, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu, Evelyn Ng, Allen Cunningham, Carmel Petresco, Bertrand Grospellier, Hevad Khan, Frankie O'Dell, Magnus Petersson, Robert Mizrachi, Jon Turner, Devon Porter, Matt Lessinger, David Colclough, Hasan Habib, Shawn Sheikhan, Maya Geller-Antonius, Victor Ramdin and Mark Vos.

Day 4 action was called to a close at 189 players as we went to press, and will continue tomorrow as the organisers strive to get the field down to 27 players. Jeremy Joseph has maintained his chip lead from Day 3 and is currently sitting pretty on 3.1 million, followed by Critian Dragomir on 2.065 million; David Rheem on 2 million; Nickolay Losev on 1.8 million and Andrew Rosskamm on 1.745 million.

Former WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth is still in play, although shortstacked at around 400 000, having taken some punishment from Pokerstars Internet player Santeri Valikosi. Hellmuth's fellow champ, Johnny 'The Orient Express' Chan has not been so fortunate and will not be going any further in this year's Main Event. The average stack in the room is a little over 700 000.

Other Day 4 eliminations of note have been Jean-Robert Bellande, the seven-time World Snooker Champ Steve Davis, and Patrik Antonius's wife Maya.

Still in play are Brandon Cantu, Hoyt Corkins, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen and Internet player Hevad Kahn, who has been far more restrained in his table behaviour this year.

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