The 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship continued with day 3, and, for the first time in the tournament, players had a legitimate chance to exit the Bellagio's Fontana Bar with a little cash.
That's right, money bubble time.
Day 3 began at noon PST with $1,500-$3,000 blinds and $400 antes. The math for the remaining field of 136 was simple - 100 of them would earn a paycheck; 36 of them would walk away with nothing.
David Oppenheim helped the move toward the magic 101st-place elimination with his bustout of David "The Devilfish" Ulliot 12 minutes into play. A number of other pros soon followed Ulliot to the rail, including Tony Cousineau, Minh Ly, Isabelle Mercier, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
While some notables fell, Joe Hachem made a huge move up the leader board during early action. The 2005
WSOP champ bumped his stack up to $350,000, meanwhile crippling Ben Lamb and eliminating Dewey Tomko (pocket sevens), when his trip eights held against Lamb's heart flush draw.
The eliminations continued at a steady pace, and, at 2:20 p.m., Anthony Newman became the tournament's 101st-place finisher. The elimination, which came seconds after Mike Matusow busted Bobby Hoff, made the
DBNAPC one of the few recent
WPT events to have the money bubble burst without any hand-for-hand action.
Minutes later, Thomas Wahlroos, exiting in 100th place, earned the
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship's first paycheck ($25,370).
The field dwindled fast as a result of the post-money-bubble elimination boom, with players busting at a rate of nearly one per minute. Some pros who fell 100th to 51st (earning $25,370) were Shane "Shaniac" Schleger, David Benyamine, Dan Harrington, James "KrazyKanuck" Worth, Evelyn Ng, and Chau Giang.
Current
Card Player Player of the Year points leader Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, who redrew to a seat adjacent to John Hoang (fifth in
Card Player's POY race and Mizrachi's closest competition still in contention at the
DBNAPC), provided one of the more dramatic eliminations in late action.
After calling an all-in preflop raise by Tony Ma, Mizrachi, holding pocket fours, found himself in a huge hole against Ma's pocket aces. Mizrachi stayed behind before spiking a 4 on the river. A visibly upset Ma exited the
DBNAPC in 54th place.
At 9:01 p.m., and with five levels of play completed, day 3 of the 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship ended.
The top five chip counts are as follows:
1. Lee Markholt - $1,481,000
2. Mads Anderson - $1,033,000
3. Justin Bonomo - $987,000
4. Joe Hachem - $915,000
5. Michael Binger - $827,000
Other notables advancing are Haralabos Voulgaris ($798,000), Scott Fischman ($751,000), Cliff Josephy ($716,000), Cyndy Violette ($457,000), Chip Reese ($277,000), Michael Mizrachi ($233,000), and Daniel Negreanu ($174,000).
Some pros who failed to survive include Mike Matusow, Kristy Gazes, Clonie Gowen, Chris McCormack, and
Card Player's Jeff "Happy" Shulman.
For a complete list of chip counts and eliminations please click
here.
The 2006
Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship continues at noon PST when the remaining 33 players return for day 4.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos, and for a news episode of "The Circuit."
Quote of the Day: "What's the point of playing if we can't needle each other? We're not playing for the money." - Joe Hachem on why he disagrees with a tournament rule that limits player conversation.
