Photo Recap: Day 3 of WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown

By BJ Nemeth

The original goal for Day 3 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown was to play down to the money (45 players), but without a dinner break, the players wanted to end early, and action stopped after six levels with 51 players remaining.

The field should burst the money bubble fairly early on Day 4, but before that happens, here’s a photographic look back at Day 3 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown:

"Ground Control to Major Tom."

Michael "Squeaky" Winnett showed up on Day 3 with an astronaut’s helmet, presumably in honor of the Space Shuttle scheduled to launch later that afternoon in central Florida.

Michael "Squeaky" Winnett even brought an alien-looking card protector with him to continue the space theme. Unfortunately, the scheduled launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour was postponed for a few days due to a technical problem. That wouldn’t be a good sign for Winnett.

Day 2 chipleader Todd Terry started at the top of the counts, and had a solid day to finish in the Top 10 heading into Day 3.

Bryan Colin took over the chip lead fairly early in the day and was near the top of the counts for a long time. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold the position, and while he survived the day, he’s near the bottom of the chip counts with 93,000.

Abbey Daniels (left) contemplates whether or not to call the all-in raise from Michael "Squeaky" Winnett (standing, right). Winnett continued his trend from earlier days by loudly talking his way through hands that he played. Michael McNeil (not pictured) was already all in, and Winnett caught a break when Daniels would eventually fold J-10, which would’ve won the hand. (Winnett doubled up with A-Q vs. A-3.)

Winnett never had a lot of chips on Day 3, but he kept getting lucky in tight spots to stay alive — possibly annoying his opponents more than his table talk. He did receive several penalties for his table talk during the tournament, primarily because he was discussing the contents of his hand with action pending.

Day 3 started with seven women in the field, a larger-than-normal percentage, and included some top female pros like Annette Obrestad (left) and Maria Ho. Unfortunately, both Obrestad and Ho would be eliminated later in the day by one of their own — Lauren Kling.

Elio Cabrera had two big double-ups late in the day where he spiked a card on the turn or river to stay alive. In the second one, shown here, he had pocket aces against another player’s set, but a third ace on the turn gave the pot to Cabrera.

It may not shock you to learn that Cabrera is friends with Michael "Squeaky" Winnett, and when Winnett learned of Cabrera’s lucky come-from-behind victories, he proclaimed, "You can’t beat luck! I don’t care how good these guys are, you can’t beat luck!"

Abbey Daniels was tournament chipleader for a while, and the first player to reach one million in chips. She finished the day second in chips with 1,016,500.

Former WPT winner Tommy Vedes moved all in on the river with the board showing [9c9h8s8dAs], and David Farber (not pictured) called. Vedes turned over [AcAh] for a river full house, and Farber mucked in frustration, saying, "You are so lucky."

Vedes said, "I felt the ace was coming. Put you on ten-jack." Another player says, "He had the nine," and Vedes says, "Of course he had the nine. But how was I supposed to know?" Vedes finished the day fourth in chips with 446,500.

At 8:00 pm, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino hosted a $1,000 buy-in heads-up tournament, which attracted a lot of the players who had busted from the WPT event, including Will Failla (center). The WPT event continues deep in the background.

WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage (right) carefully and thoroughly explained the rules to Michael "Squeaky" Winnett during a two-orbit penalty. Savage also warned Winnett that his next violation would result in a three-orbit penalty, and anything after that had the very real possibility of expulsion from the tournament.

Steven Levy (left) contemplated a river bet from Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (center) on a board of [10d4h3hAsQc]. Levy would eventually call, and Von Kriegenbergh turned over [AdQh] to win the huge pot worth nearly 300,000 in chips. Levy would bust a short while later, while Von Kriegenbergh went on to finish the day as chipleader with 1,080,500.

Lauren Kling was eliminated on the last hand of the day when she was outkicked against Taylor Von Kriegenbergh. Kling’s elimination left Abbey Daniels as the last woman standing.

Michael "Squeaky" Winnett (foreground, right) checked in the dark before a flop of [Qc9c5h], Kazu Oshima (far left, in black) bet 10,000, and Winnett min-raised to 20,000. Oshima moved all in, and Winnett called all in with [6c5c] for a pair with a flush draw. But Oshima turned over [Ac3c] for an overcard with a higher flush draw.

The [Jh] on the turn kept Winnett in the lead, and both players watched as the dealer put out the river card — the [Jc].

Michael "Squeaky" Winnett was uncharacteristically mild-mannered after his elimination, quietly gathering his things and leaving the tournament area.

1. Taylor Von Kriegenbergh – 1,080,500 (216 BBs)
2. Abbey Daniels – 1,016,500 (203 BBs)
3. Justin Zaki – 461,000 (92 BBs)
4. Tommy Vedes – 446,500 (89 BBs)
5. Brent Roberts – 441,000 (88 BBs)

Day 4 begins at 12:00 noon ET. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for continuing live coverage, including hand updates, frequent chip counts, and another episode of the Jess & BJ Show.