Ivey Still Alive as Main Event Nears Bubble
Friday, 11 July 2014
When Day 3 of this year's WSOP Main Event got underway last night all eyes were on Phil Ivey as he returned to the felt as the largest stack in the room.
The high stakes grinder had blasted his way through two sessions to bag over 505,500 chips and certainly looked like the man to beat going into the final session before the money bubble.
However, despite his previous form, Ivey wasn't able to top the chip counts by the end of play. While he is far from the bottom of the pack (he's currently in the upper third), he did little to improve his stack size and eventually ended that day with 552,500 chips.
That haul was enough to put him just above Brian 'sbrugby' Townsend, but some way behind the overall leader, Andrew Liporace.
Throughout the day the tournament averaged 300 eliminations per level and by the time Level 15 rolled around (the fifth level of the session), almost 1,200 players had hit the rail.
At this point it looked as though the money bubble would be burst but before it did the organisers decided to pause the clock and bring 746 players back for Day 4.
That decision not only left Liporace atop of the leaderboard but the field now poised just a few eliminations from a payday worth at least $18,406.
Also riding high in the chip counts is a British duo featuring Louis Salter and John Kabbaj.
The Englishmen have 850,000 and 780,000 respectively and look set to make it deep into the money this year.
While Liporace and Ivey were enjoying their time on poker's biggest stage, a slew of former champions, including Chris Moneymaker, Johnny Chan and Ryan Riess, all skidded towards the exit.
Despite knowing what it takes to navigate the mammoth tournament, none of the above will be repeating their previous feats and we'll see a new World Champion crowned later in the year.
Day 4 will get underway tomorrow and the organisers expect the bubble to hit within the level of play which means we could be in for a tense opening to one of the most important sessions of the event.
WSOP Main Event End of Day 3 Chip Counts:
1. Andrew Liporace - 1,128,000
2. Mehrdad Yousefzadeh - 1,124,000
3. Raul Mestre - 988,500
4. Jesse Wilke - 975,500
5. Scott Blackman - 935,000
6. Andoni Larrabe - 923,000
7. Stephen Graner - 911,000
8. Matthew Sedgeman - 905,000
9. Magnus Karlsson - 891,500
10. David Tuthill - 850,500