With 425 players gone, a poker brat leading the pack and the money bubble in sight, Day 3 of the WPT World Championship marked the business end of the world’s biggest non-WSOP poker tournament.
214 players began Day Three hoping for a slice of the $15 million prize pool, although 114 of them would be walking home with nothing to show for their efforts before the day was out. Among those Joe Seebok, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Phil Ivey and Jamie Gold were just some of the more recognisable faces.
Of course it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the planet’s best poker players, and for the self-proclaimed best of the lot, Phil Hellmuth, Day Three was yet another day to savour. Hellmuth may have a poor record in the World Poker Tour up till now, but the 1989 WSOP champion is one of the world’s greatest front runners, and yesterday he showed why.
Starting with $528,000 the poker brat was at his very best, rarely putting his stack in jeopardy yet still managing to build at a relentless pace. And despite losing a $400,000 pot to Shawn Buchanan, and descending into a trademark tantrum which saw him screaming: “You bluffed $200,000 against the best player in the world on top of his game, you wont make it to the end of the day,” Hellmuth regained his composure, and finished the day with over $1.8 million in chips, still the chip leader.
He will, of course, have competition, and perhaps the most danger will come from Britain’s Roland De Wolfe. De Wolfe is currently in a rich vein of form, with three top two finishes and an EPT title to his name in the last six months. Add that to the WPT title he won in Paris in season 4, and his third place finish here last here, and De Wolfe has all the credentials to win this event. His form at the end of Day Three showed just what he is capable, as he ran his stack up to $1.3 million by the close of play.
Another player enjoying himself was Raymond Davis, who scored a series of huge pots to put himself second on the leaderboard. Davis began his run by eliminating David Singer with a flush versus two-pair, and followed that up by sending Chip Reese to the rail when his pocket eights held up against Reese’s A-J. Davis then crossed the $1.4 million mark when he eliminated Steve Wong with kings versus top pair on the flop, and ended the day with $1.7 million in chips.
With two former WSOP champions inside the top ten (Phil Hellmuth and Juan Carlos Mortensen), and a host of poker pros still in the hunt, tomorrow should be another fascinating day at the Bellagio.
Starting tomorrow the top ten chip counts are as follows:
Phil Hellmuth - $1,827,000
Raymond Davis - $1,704,000
Loi Phan - $1,419,000
Kirk Morrison - $1,327,000
Roland De Wolfe - $1,287,000
Thomas Wahlroos - $1,189,000
Can Kim Hua - $1,041,000
Juan Carlos Mortensen - $939,000
Mike Wattel - $935,000
Ian Johns - $862,000
Other notables still in the hunt:
15th – Sorel Mizzi - $703,000
20th – Justin Bonomo - $625,000
22nd – Scott Fishman - $617,000
23rd – Paul Wasicka - $558,000
29th – Lyle Berman - $501,000
31st – Jared Hamby - $494,000
33rd - Marc Goodwin - $427,000