WPT Legends of Poker, Day 3 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

Day 3 of the WPT Legends of Poker began with 84 players, and they started the day just 21 spots away from the Money Bubble. But reaching the money was just the beginning of a very long day that stretched well past midnight.

Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from Day 3:

It took about four hours to reach the money, and most of the field gathered around the table to watch as Elio Fox was all in with [Jh10h] against the [AcAh] of Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The best hand held up, and Fox was the unfortunate Bubble Boy, finishing in 64th place.

The other 63 players were guaranteed at least $7,500.

ClubWPT.com qualifier Efren Abustan checked out the payout structure after reaching the money. But rather than read water as a short stack trying to move up another pay level, Abustan would go on a big run to take the chip lead at one point. Abustan survived the day with 451,000, which puts him 15th with 18 players remaining as they head into Day 4.

While the dealer is busy counting chips after an all-in situation, Royal Flush Girl Jeannie Duffy briefly takes a seat next to Ray Henson for a quick photo. Unfortunately, Henson was eliminated shortly after the dinner break in 39th place.

There were actually two ClubWPT.com qualifiers who reached the money in this event. Phillip Smith (pictured above) came into Day 3 with a short stack, but survived long enough to reach 38th place, earning $9,500.

In addition to receiving the money, Smith received one last photo with Royal Flush Girl Angelique Velez.

Both Smith and Efren Abustan earned their seats by playing on ClubWPT.com. In the month of September, the site will be giving away three seats into upcoming WPT events. So if you’d like a chance to play with the pros on the World Poker Tour, head over to ClubWPT.com and check it out.

Erick Lindgren had been short-stacked to end Day 2, and never got much momentum building on Day 3 either. Still, Lindgren managed to survive most of the day, ultimate busting in 33rd place when he got it all in with [9c9d] against the [10d10s] of Sam Barnhart.

When the field got down to 27 players, there was a redraw for new seats. The plan was to play down to the final 18 players before stopping for the night.

Season VII WPT World Champion Yevgeniy Timoshenko (left) was crippled down to a short stack, but managed to survive a series of all-in situations to stay in the game. In this hand, Timoshenko was all in preflop for about 5 big blinds, and watched as Ricky Green (center) and Art Alaniz (right) checked down a board of [Qh7c5h8h4d].

Timoshenko smiled as he turned over [6c6h] for an eight-high straight. Alaniz showed [QsJs] for top pair, while Green only had [As9d] for ace high. Timoshenko tripled up to about 14 big blinds, and it looked like he might be able to make a comeback and a serious run at the final table.

A few minutes after tripling up, Yevgeniy Timoshenko (left) got it all in with [KcQc], but he was dominated by the [AcQd] of Stephen Graner (center right, in black).

The flop came [AhKh7d], giving both players a pair, but Graner was in the lead. Timoshenko reached his hand over the board to sprinkle some invisible run-good on the last two cards, hoping to catch another king to stay alive. But the turn was the [6s], the river was the [6h], and Timoshenko’s comeback came to an end in 25th place.

Vadim Bulavchik (foreground, right) stepped away from the table after getting it all in preflop with [Ac10d] against the [QcQd] on Greg Mueller (center, in black).

The board came [10h4h2cJh6h], giving Bulavchik a pair of tens on the flop for a few extra outs, but he came up blank. Bulavchik busted in 24th place, while Mueller moved up to second place on the leaderboard with nearly 2 million in chips.

Ricky Green was another player who was treading water with a short stack for most of the day. But he eventually got it all in with [Jh7h] against the [As6h] of Art Alaniz, and never improved. Green spoke with the WPT cameras about his elimination in 21st place.

Jesse Martin (center left, in grey) was all in preflop with [AdJd] against the [5c5d] of Jason Koon (foreground, right). Koon could only hang his head in his hands as the board came [As8d7dKc9d] to give Martin the double up.

Koon was crippled down to just six big blinds, and eliminated about 10 minutes later when he lost another race with [Ad10c] against Max Steinberg’s [3d3s].

Jason Koon was the 19th place finisher, which brought Day 3 to an end with two tables remaining around 1:30 am.

Cyrus Farzad took the chip lead in the evening and never lost it, approaching 4 million in chips at one point, but finishing with 2.6 million.

Greg "FBT" Mueller finished the day second in chips with nearly 2.4 million, and was named the 3Bet Clothing Player of the Day by WPT reporter Diana Cox.

Day 3 came to an end with 18 players. Here’s a look at the seating assignments and official chip counts for Day 4:

TABLE 1
1.  Max Steinberg  –  1,125,000  (56 bb)
2.  Stephen Graner  –  1,882,000  (94 bb)
3.  David Marshall  –  400,000  (20 bb)
4.  Sam Barnhart  –  756,000  (37 bb)
5.  Joseph Cheong  –  504,000  (25 bb)
6.  Efren Abustan  –  441,000  (22 bb)
7.  Jim Willerson  –  988,000  (49 bb)
8.  Cyrus Farzad  –  2,600,000  (130 bb)
9.  Josh Hale  –  680,000  (34 bb)

TABLE 2
1.  Raouf Malek  –  505,000  (25 bb)
2.  Greg Mueller  –  2,396,000  (119 bb)
3.  Alan Myerson  –  704,000  (35 bb)
4.  Ali Eslami  –  1,065,000  (53 bb)
5.  Antonios Roungeris  –  337,000  (16 bb)
6.  Art Alaniz  –  405,000  (20 bb)
7.  Jesse Martin  –  931,000  (46 bb)
8.  Ramzi Srour  –  838,000  (41 bb)
9.  Jeff Madsen  –  1,675,000  (83 bb)

Day 4 begins today at 1:00 noon PT. Stay tuned to WPT.com for complete live coverage and chip counts throughout the day, including hand-for-hand coverage as soon as the final 10 players combine to a single table.