WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event -- Day 3Mark Newhouse Leads Final 72 Players |
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A total of 186 players returned to the Commerce Casino ballroom with one thing on their minds: Make the money.
Only 72 players would earn a payday, which left the majority of the field on the outside looking in with nothing to show for their three-day effort.
Coming into the day second in chips, Daniel Negreanu (pictured left) wasn’t exactly concerned about the mounting blinds and antes. In fact, Negreanu has spent the last few days praising the slow-moving tournament structure designed by Tournament Director Matt Savage. Negreanu did, however, encounter a major distraction at the tables in the form of the gold medal hockey game at the Winter Olympics between the United States and Canada.
As a transplanted Canadian himself, Negreanu spent the early levels of the day celebrating and gloating about his team’s 2-0 lead. Though he began to sweat a bit when the U.S. fought back, he was confident that the lead would hold entering the final minute of play. Instead, a cheer erupted from the U.S. heavy field when the Americans tied up the game in the final 30 seconds, sending it to sudden death.
Savage even got in on the act, rubbing it in by signing O Canada on the PA system. Negreanu got the last laugh, however, when Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal gave the gold to Canada. Shortly afterward, he made sure that Savage heard him signing the U.S. national anthem as he continued to rake in pot after pot. Negreanu ended the day on a bit of a downswing, but he is still in decent shape with 222,500, good for 29th place.
Once the hockey fever died down, the players focused on the task on hand. It took a little bit longer than the five allotted levels to break into the money, but it finally happened when Thomas Fuller’s big slick ran into an opponent’s pocket aces.
Notables still remaining include chip leader Mark Newhouse (pictured right), Chris Moore, Annie Duke, Carlos Mortensen, Steve Sung, Eugene Katchalov, Johnny Chan, Prahlad Friedman, Hoyt Corkins, Erica Schoenberg, Brett Richey, Vivek Rajkumar, Robert Mizrachi, Shawn Buchanan, Vanessa Rousso, Lauren Kling, and Jon Turner.
The remaining 72 players are all now guaranteed $18,595 and they will return on Monday to play down to the final three tables. Those players bagged and tagged their chips for the evening, but the action continued at Commerce well into the night with the $25,000 high-roller event. The tournament attracted 40 players and will award a first place prize of $444,600.
Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts in the main event.
1. Mark Newhouse — 498,000
2. Chris Moore — 489,000
3. Masa Kagawa — 432,000
4. John Cautela — 417,000
5. Shawn Pilot — 400,500
6. Millad Jorshari — 386,000
7. Gevork Kasabyan — 378,000
8. Tim Begley — 369,500
9. Tri Huynh — 353,000
10. Dan Martin — 335,000
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