While Wasicka was moving swiftly up the leaderboard J.C. Tran, chip leader at the end of Day Two, was experiencing a day of mixed fortunes. He took a big hit to his stack early on when Jacob Fernandez called Tran’s all-in bluff, and then again late in the day when his pocket tens failed to improve against Richard Munro’s pocket queens. For lesser players two such big beats in one session could spell the end, but Tran has been playing great poker, such that as the day draws to a close he sits with almost the exact same number of chips as he started with, and has dropped to only fifth on the leaderboard.

On the whole it was a good day for those who started as chip leaders, with Bill Edler, Can Kim Hua, Mike Carsson, and Lee Markholt in particular making good progress. But it was Paul Wasicka who made the most noise. He got off to a good start, eliminating Danny Smith early on when his pocket kings held up against Smith’s A-K, and then continued to build momentum from then on, gaining in confidence as the day went on.

Play was scheduled to stop when 54 players were left.