Even though Day 3 resulted in some big moves in the tournament action, players around the Commerce Casino seemed more preoccupied with what was going on outside of the casino rather than inside it. Earlier in the day, the US vs. Canada gold medal hockey match kept almost the entire field riveted to the TV. When the States scored the tying goal, the room erupted in cheers. When Canada scored the game-winning goal in overtime, well, Daniel Negreanu ran across the room to give fellow Canadian Pat Pezzin a high five.
That wasn’t the only television program that grabbed Negreanu’s attention. The evening hours brought the world premiere of Negreanu’s World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) final table. While Negreanu was watching himself play his way to a second place finish on the television, he had to watch his once large stack dwindle in real life. Day 3 was a rough one for Negreanu. He began the day near the top of the leaderboard before dropping down as low as 125,000. Negreanu was able to rebound to end the day with 222,500 chips, which is slightly above the 206,944 chip average.
While Negreanu saw his stack slip, others saw their stack soar. LAPC Heads-Up champion Chris Moore ended the day second in chips with 489,000 thanks, in part, to a huge hand where he bluffed Vanessa Rousso, getting her to fold a baby flush when he held a set of nines. The only player to fare any better than Moore on Day 3 was Mark Newhouse. He jumped to the top of the chip counts midway through the day when he doubled through another player when his A-K cracked another player’s pocket kings. Newhouse also played table bully during the bubble period and was able to chip up and end the day atop the chip counts with 498,000.
The strong performance by female players in the event continued during Day 3. Fourteen women began the day and six of them are left standing and in-the-money, including Annie Duke, Erica Schoenberg and Lauren Kling. Duke is sitting above average with 321,000, while her brother, Howard Lederer busted out just shy of the money. Other players who made their exit today include Miami John Cernuto, Bryan Devonshire, Paul Wasicka, Todd Brunson, Gavin Griffin, Allen Cunningham and Jennifer Tilly.
Tomorrow the remaining 72 players will return at 12PM and play down to the final 27. There are a number of big names, former winners and local favorites still vying for the top prize of over $1.7 million.
Here are the top ten chip counts headed into Day 4 of play:
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
@WPT