Day 3 Concludes; Jared Jaffee Carries Big Lead to Final Table

Nearly 12 hours after play began, Day 3 of the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble has come to a close with a final table of six having emerged from the 26 who started the day. When play concluded just before midnight it was Jared Jaffee who finished the night having accumulated more chips than anyone, and he’ll be carrying a big lead to tomorrow’s final table with 3.65 million — nearly 2 million clear of his nearest challenger.

Cong Pham began play today as the chip leader among the last 26, survivors from the total field of 358 entries. But Pham ran into some early trouble and saw his stack slide quickly before exiting in 21st ($10,624).  Then Jacob Bazeley (18th, $12,093), Jeff Madsen (15th, $14,127), and Andrew Whitaker ($14,127) were among those following Pham to the rail as the afternoon turned to evening.

Matt Glantz had built up a stack earlier in the day, but later became short and would fall in 12th. Alexander Ziskin followed Glantz to the door in 11th, then shortly after dinner a short-stacked Thad McNulty fell in 10th, like Glantz and Ziskin earning $17,292 for his efforts.

David Diaz was next to go in ninth ($23,734) after losing his last all-in versus Randall Price. Meanwhile Jaffee had already begun his move up the counts to claim first position, and was busily extending his lead when he knocked out Ryan Eriquezzo in eighth ($31,646) to push his stack well over the 3 million-chip mark. Matthew Oswalt then became the final elimination of the night in seventh ($39,557) after losing the last of his chips to the lone woman remaining in the field, Margo Costa.

That last hand pushed Costa up over 1.7 million and into second place to finish the night, meaning she’ll be returning to try to become the first woman ever to win an open WPT Main Event (in over 200 of them!).

Here’s a look at how the final six stack up, including where they’ll be sitting when play begins for tomorrow’s final day of play:

Seat 1: Randall Price — 940,000 (23 bb)
Seat 2: Jared Jaffee — 3,650,000 (91 bb)
Seat 3: Blake Purvis — 1,400,000 (35 bb)
Seat 4: Margo Costa — 1,720,000 (43 bb)?
Seat 5: Michael Horchoff — 1,525,000 (38 bb)?
Seat 6: Corrie Wunstel — 1,495,000 (37 bb) 

Play is scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. ET tomorrow.  We’ll be here with reports of every hand, and be sure also to check out the live stream of all the action on a half-hour delay presented by Draft Kings.  Join us tomorrow as we find out together who among these six will emerge as the newest WPT champion.