Day 3 of the Doyle Brunson World Poker Championship

It was payday at the 2007 Doyle Brunson World Poker Classic. Of the 152 returning players, 100 would go home at least $28,905 richer, while everyone else would leave wondering what could have been.

With the blinds still relatively low, it could've taken most of the day to reach the money, but the aggressive nature of the online community sped up the process. By the end of the second level, the bubble had burst and many of the online phenoms that had dominated the field for days were sent to the rail. Among the fallen were Hevad "RaiNKhaN" Khan, Jon "PearlJammed" Turner, Marco "CrazyMarco" Johnson, James "mig.com" Mackey, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Jonathan "fatalerror" Aguiar, Matt "Allinat420" Stout, Scott "gunning4you" Seiver and Chris "bushman" Bush.

Coming into the day as the chip leader with 460,700, Phil Ivey seemed poised to make a serious run at the $2,482,605 first place prize, but Ivey faltered early and often putting himself in danger of missing the money entirely. Ivey's final hand came when Hoyt Corkins raised from the button to 12,000 and Ivey called from the big blind. The flop came 10 8 4 and Ivey checked, Corkins bet 13,000 and Ivey moved all in for about 65,000. Corkins quickly called with K K and Ivey showed J 9 for the open-ended straight draw. The turn card was a blank, and the 9 on the river gave Ivey a pair, but it was too little, too late. Ivey finished the tournament in 103rd place, just shy of the money.

The players went into their second break of the day believing that they would return to hand-for-hand play, but during the last hand of the level a player was eliminated to bring smiles to the faces of the remaining 100 players. Because hand-for-hand play never took place and because of the unusually flat payout structure, players dropped like flies once the cards got back in the air. In an effort to put themselves into contention, much of the field played themselves out of the casino. With 51st paying the same as 100th place, many felt the need to gamble, despite the blinds still being relatively short. As a result we lost Chau Giang (97th), Ted Lawson (95th), James Van Alstyne (92nd), Joe Sebok (86th), Nenad Medic (75th), Shannon Shorr (71st), Beth Shak (61st), Theo Tran (56th) and Erik Seidel (55th) in quick succession.

One of the more consistent players on the World Poker Tour this year has been Lee Markholt. Markholt came into the day second in chips, but took a big hit to his stack early in the day. Unlike Ivey, Markholt hung on to cash (79th) and as a result brought his WPT cash total to nine for 2007. With only 20 WPT events this year, that's an incredible cash rate of 45%.

Jonathan Little fought hard for Card Player's Player of the Year race. He was on the short stack for two days, but he didn't go quietly. First he doubled through Gus Hansen with pocket sixes, and then his pocket aces held up against queens to put him back into contention. Unfortunately for Little, his run ended with a 53rd-place finish. Little needed a second place finish or better to overtake David "The Dragon" Pham. With Little's elimination, Pham has effectively clinched Card Player's POY title for 2007, which will be his second (he also won it back in 2000).

As the player count dwindled and the end of the day was in sight, the rail gathered around Daniel Negreanu to see if he could keep his run at the title alive. Negreanu was short for awhile but he dramatically doubled up much to the delight of his fans. Hoyt Corkins raised from middle position to 30,000 and Negreanu moved all in from the button for 146,000. Corkins called with A 2 and Negreanu showed J J. The flop came A 8 8, and Corkins paired his ace to take the lead. The turn card was the 2, and Negreanu needed a jack on the river to stay alive. The dealer peeled off the J on the river and Negreanu jumped out of his seat as the rail celebrated.

The remaining 44 players will return tomorrow and play an additional five levels. Among them are ten former WPT champions including: Negreanu, Corkins, Erick Lindgren, David "TheDevilfish" Ulliot, Gus Hansen, Ryan Daut, Jose Rosenkrantz, Roy Winston, Andreas Walnum, and Eric Hershler.

Make sure to come back at noon tomorrow for all your live updates, photos, videos and pro blogs.

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