2019 WSOP Main Event: Money Bubble Bursts Late On Day 3

The 2019 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in main event drew the second-largest field in its history, attracting 8,569 players. After three full days of tournament action, that field has already been narrowed down to just 1,286 players, all of whom are now in the money. The money bubble burst shortly before 1:00 a.m. local time when Ryan Pochedly called off the last of his stack with A-K on a 873K7 board, only to find out that his opponent Julian Pineda had made trips with his 76.

Pochedly was awarded entry into the 2020 main event as a consolation prize from the WSOP, along with a signature board in the shape of a bracelet that featured the signatures of many of the games biggest stars.

With Pochedly’s elimination, the remaining 1,286 all locked up a minimum payday of $15,000, and are alive in this event with a shot at the championship bracelet and the top prize of $10,000,000.

Heading into day 4, Preben Stokkan holds the chip lead with 2,184,000. Other top stacks include Andrew Brokos (1,906,000), Ryan Dodge (1,800,000), WSOP bracelet winner Galen Hall (1,658,000), Cassio Pisapia (1,646,000) and Chris Hunichen (1,618,000).

There are several more big names with healthy stacks following the end of day 3, including Jean-Robert Bellande (1,126,000), Joseph Cheong (1,068,000), Jack Salter (1,015,000), Matt Stout (1,011,000), Max Silver (978,000), November Niner Eoghan O’Dea (946,000), two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (916,000), Tom Cannuli (780,000_ Adam Levy (751,000), three-time bracelet winner Antonio Esfandiari (740,000) and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (727,000).

Three former winners of the main event are still alive with a chance of becoming repeat champions. 2013 WSOP main event winner Chris Moneymaker bagged up 681,000, 2016 champion Qui Nguyen ended with 669,000, and two-time main event champion Johnny Chan will come into day 4 with 498,000. Former champs to hit the rail on day 3 included Joe Hachem, Jim Bechtel, Scotty Nguyen and defending champion John Cynn.

Two-time WSOP main event ‘last woman standing’ Kelly Minkin spent much of her day at one of the three featured tables in the Amazon room. Minkin finished the day with 456,000, securing her third cash in this event in the last five years. She finished 29th in 2015 and 50th last year.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, because I expect myself to go deep every time I play the main event, but it’s a relief that we’re finally in the money,” said Minkin after play ended.

“I want to be the last person standing and win the main event, that would be incredible,” said Minkin when asked for her thoughts on being the last highest-finishing female player in this event multiple times. “But I do think there is something to say about being the last woman, given that I guess this year there were only 350 total women in the field. So, if how I finish and my success in this event can encourage other women to get into poker, that’s amazing.”

Among the 1,594 players that were eliminated on day 3 were plenty of notables like Igor Kurganov, Asi Mishe, Phil Hui, Loni Harwood, David Bach, Calvin Anderson, TJ Cloutier, and Nick Schulman, who was set-over-setted by Joseph Cheong to lose a huge chunk of his stack late in the day.

The final 1,286 players will return for day 4 at noon on Tuesday, July 9. Play was halted following the bursting of the bubble with 6 minutes and 26 seconds remaining at 3,000 – 6,000 blinds and a big blind ante of 6,000 for level 15.

Here is a look at the top ten stacks following the conclusion of day 3:

For a full list of chip counts heading into day 4 CLICK HERE.

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