PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun Day 3: Selbst and Seiver Lead the Charge
Day 3 of the 2010 PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun Main Event threatened to be a long day. Yet, due in part to the smart, aggressive play of Vanessa Selbst (2,285,000) and Scott Seiver (2,241,000), only six-and-a-half levels were required to trim the field from 125 players to the final 24. Those 24 will return on Saturday for the last push to Sunday's final table.
Selbst began the day with 542,600 chips, good for third in the counts. She used that leg-up on the field to open-raise and three-bet relentlessly before the flop. When Selbst's aggression wasn't enough to pots, she was able to induce mistakes from her opponents. Vincent Rubianes shipped almost 500,000 to Selbst in the early going when he took a stand with pocket jacks. Rubianes four-bet Selbst pre-flop from the small blind, but wound up going broke when he called all in on a board of 10♦ A♥ 6♦ 8♣. Selbst flopped a set of tens and faded Rubianes' two-outer on the river.
Seiver, on the other hand, had considerably more work to do to acquire his 2.2 million chips. He started the day stacked at 40,400, good for only 10 big blinds. He won a few key early hands, then started to build a head of steam when he rivered a full house against Lars Bonding. Bonding tanked for minutes after Seiver shoved for 220,500 on a final board of Q♦ Q♣ 10♠ 6♥ 4♦. When he finally called, Seiver turned up pocket fours for fours full of queens, a hand Bonding couldn't beat. That pot gave Seiver 675,000 chips and from there he kept building and building.
Selbst and Seiver will be joined tomorrow for Day 4 by several other notable players. Jordan Morgan, the Day 2 chip leader, finished Day 3 with 1,667,000 chips. Cliff Josephy (1,326,000), Jonathan Aguiar (899,000), Peter Jetten (785,000) and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso (720,000) are also in striking distance of a deep run.
The man with the biggest Day 3 rail was one of the last notables who didn't survive the day. All eyes were on Phil Ivey through Day 3, even as Ivey's eyes were on Tiger Woods' performance at the Masters. Ivey's stack climbed as high as roughly 450,000 in the middle of the day, but he busted in 29th place when his second pair and flush draw bricked out against Elio Fox's top pair.Todd Terry, James Akenhead, Alex Keating, Ryan D'Angelo, and Eric Froehlich also finished in the top 50. Other notables who walked away with cash included David Williams, Sorel Mizzi, Jeff Madsen, and Team PokerStars Pros Dennis Phillips and Marcello Del Grosso.
Play resumes Saturday at noon at Mohegan Sun The final 24 players will play until only eight remain. PokerNews will provide all the live updates directly from the tournament floor.
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