Day 3 of the 2013 WSOP Main Event finally saw the three starting flights merge together into a single massive beast, something like the poker equivalent of Godzilla or Mothra.
This massive leviathan of a poker event was made up of many recognisable names, and there were some rather interesting spots throughout the day, including a massive pot involving FTR’s own Max Steinberg.
Main Event
With the field in Day 3 starting with 1753 players and with 648 getting paid, the aim for the day was to get down to as near the bubble as possible. The day ended by giving those of an occult bent chills, as the number of players preparing for Day 4 was 666!
The day had also seen the removal of some of the big names, and seen some of those big names add to their chip stacks.
WSOP Legend, Doyle Brunson, was still alive and kicking in the event, and ended the day very much in contention with 626,000. After a hard day, Doyle was starting to feel the consequences of playing several long days, and had to call it a day 15 minutes before the actual end of play. Hopefully the Texas Dolly will be able to come back and Play a full Day 4. It’s very hard not to root for The Godfather of Poker, and I’ve found several of my colleagues in the Poker Media rooting him on via Twitter.
The other WSOP Main Event Winner still in the field also made it through Day 3, as Greg Merson emerged from the action with 390,500 in his stack, to place him in the top 100 chip stacks.
In the modern era, we haven’t had a repeat winner of the Main Event, and the last player to do it was Johnny Chan, back in 1988 when only 167 players entered the event, making it a lot easier for a player to take the win.
With 6,352 players in this year’s Main Event, it would be a major event if either Doyle or Merson managed to pick up another Main Event Bracelet.
Another record that would be fantastic to see broken would be the lack of at least woman at the final table of the Main Event. This has only be done once, with Barbara Enright in 1995, and it’s way overdue for another lady to take that step up in their career.
Two of the ladies still in the event who might be able to break that record are Annette Obrestad (564,000) and Melanie Weisner (536,000), and I for one would be overjoyed to see either of them make the final table.
Other big events of the day involved the fortunes of Phil Ivey and FTR’s own Max Steinberg. They were sat at the same table, and played this massive hand during Level 14. Ivey had about 425k in his stack, while Max had him covered with about 550k.
Ivey opened the action with a min plus bet to 7,500 from under the gun, and got three callers, Olaoluwa Okeloa in the hijack, Max in the cuttoff, and Anthony Gregg in the big blind.
The flop fell AsTh3s and Gregg checked to Ivey, who fired out a 16k bet. Okeloa raised the action to 41k, and Max just called in position. Gregg got out of the way, and Ivey paused to consider his options, and quickly decided to push his remaining stack over the line. Olaoluwa mucked his cards, but Steinberg snapp called, and showed his TcTd for a set of tens. Ivey was left praying for a three as he tabled his very behind 3h3c for a worse set.
The turn was dealt as a 5s and the Qs on the river helped no-one, sending Phil Ivey to the rail, and placing Max into a good spot to go very deep in this event. He finished the day third in chips with 987,500. This took place at the feature table, so I’d expect this hand make the TV edit. Ivey was typically pretty emotionless reporting his exit from the Main Event:
Out set over set.
— Phil Ivey (@philivey) July 12, 2013
Max has just signed with 888 Poker, and his new bosses couldn’t resist using the hand to promote their newest player knocking out one of the biggest names in the game.
Team @888poker @MaxJSteinberg just busted @philivey #wsop #888wsop
— 888poker (@888poker) July 12, 2013
The big stack in the room belongs to Maxx Coleman, who has replaced Day 1 and Day 2 chip leader Mark Koon. Koon has dropped down the list with only 343,000 in his stack compared to Coleman with 1,071,500.
We expect the bubble to burst in the first level or so of Day 4, given so few bust outs are needed to achieve it. Two players who will doing thier best to make sure they get across the line into the cash positions will be Christian Harder and Ronnie Bardah. Both of these players are trying to tie the record for most consecutive Main Event cashes. Both have cashed the past three Main Events, and are looking to tie Chris Bjorin with four consecutive cashes if they manage to make it into the money.
Well be doing our level best to keep up with all the action, and will be updating you with all the interesting bits in our update tomorrow.