After two first flights, one "hump day," and 425 eliminations, the remaining field of the
WPT Championship finally entered play with the opportunity to earn a paycheck. Yet, in order to pop the record-setting money bubble, over half of the 214 returning participants needed to hit rail. In other words - happy hunting!
With the entire field gathered exclusively in the Fontana Bar, play began at noon with $1,500-$3,000 blinds and $400 antes.
Chris McCormack became one of the first notable bustouts. Fifteen minutes into action, McCormack fell when his A-Q failed to improve against C.K. Hua's pocket queens. Other pros soon followed McCormack, including Joe Sebok, Cliff Josephy, Liz Lieu, and Jamie Gold, who was eliminated when his all-in move with the 6
4
collided with Grant Lang's A
K
.
As in previous action, day 3 of the
WPT Championship featured numerous high-profile matchups. Seated at the same table from the start of play, James "KrazyKanuck" Worth and Phil Ivey tangled on two key hands. First, Worth delivered a $60,000 hit to Ivey courtesy of top pair, then the Canadian-born pro eliminated the five-time
WSOP bracelet winner when his pocket sixes held against Ivey's A
9
.
At 6:05 p.m., and with the field three eliminations away from popping the money bubble, play switched to hand for hand. Sixteen minutes later, Robert Mizrachi moved all in, and Loi Phan called. Despite being ahead with pocket nines against 6
4
, Mizrachi earned the unenviable "bubble boy" title when the K
8
7
K
2
board gave Phan the spade flush.
Mizrachi's elimination also provided a milestone, as Kirk Morrison tied a
WPT record by making his fourth consecutive cash.
Other pros who finished outside the money were Andrew Black, Vinnie Vinh, Scott Clements, Isaac Haxton, Jennifer Harman, Freddy Deeb, Erica Schoenberg, Greg "FBT" Mueller, and Amnon Filippi.
With the bubble popped, Bradley Helm became the first player in the 2007
WPT Championship to take home a paycheck (100th place - $46,410).
A two-time bracelet winner in the
Five Star prelims, Jared Hamby both doubled, and tripled up in post-money bubble play. On the triple-up hand, Hamby found himself all in with pocket jacks against Tim Phan's pocket sixes and Jamie Ligater's pocket aces. Ligater stayed ahead with the K
5
2
flop, Phan took the lead with the 6
turn, but "TheWacoKidd" tripled up when the J
spiked on the river.
Hamby followed the trip jacks win by doubling up with quad deuces against an opponent's flopped top two pair.
While Phil Hellmuth spent the majority of the day near the top of the leader board, Raymond Davis scored a series of wins, and high-profile eliminations, en route to ending the day in second place behind the "Poker Brat."
Davis eliminated David Singer with a diamond flush besting two pair, then busted Chip Reese when his pocket eights held against Reese's A-J. Following the popping of the money bubble, Davis crossed the $1.4 million mark, and eliminated Steve Wong, when his pocket kings topped Wong's flopped top pair.
At 9:15 p.m., and with 54 players remaining, day 3 of the 2007
WPT Championship concluded.
The top five chip counts were as follows:
1. Phil Hellmuth - $1,827,000
2. Raymond Davis - $1,704,000
3. Loi Phan - $1,419,000
4. Kirk Morrison - $1,327,000
5. Roland De Wolfe - $1,287,000
Additional pros moving on included Thomas Walhroos ($1,189,000), C.K. Hua ($1,041,000), Carlos Mortensen ($939,000), Mike Wattel ($935,000), Sorel Mizzi ($703,000), Tim Phan ($646,000), Justin Bonomo ($625,000), Scott Fischman ($617,00), and Paul Wasicka ($558,000).
Some notables who failed to advance were David Daneshgar (86th place), Sam Farha (83rd), James Van Alstyne (81st), Ram Vaswani (70th), Anna Wroblewski (70th), Lee Markholt (68th), Steve Wong (67th), Humberto Brenes (62nd), Joe Tehan (59th), Barny Boatman (58th), Ross Boatman (56th), and Danny Smith (55th). All places paid $46,410.
For a complete list of chip counts and eliminations please click
here.
The 2007
WPT Championship continues at noon and goes till the field plays down to the final 27 participants.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, videos, photos, and daily recaps.
Quote of the Day: "I see right through your soul." - Phil Hellmuth to Shawn Buchanan after Buchanan beat Hellmuth in a pot.
