2010 World Series of Poker Day 3: Grinder Leads Players Championship, and Event #3 Nears The Money
Day 3 of the World Series of Poker wrapped up early Monday morning with Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi the chip leader of the Players Championship, the $1,000 no-limit hold'em played its way dangerously close to the money, and the the first Omaha event got under way.
Event #2: $50,000 Players Championship
By the end of Day 3 of the Players Championship, Michael Mizrachi found himself leading the field with a 1,483,000 chip stack but being trailed closely by Russia's Vladimir Schmelev with 1,432,000.
The Grinder was the first to crack the 1 million chip mark when he raised from under the gun with K♦K♠ and found a caller in David Oppenheim from the button. After a flop of J♦10♥5♠, Oppenheim check-called Mizrachi's bet and then led out after the 10♣ fell on the turn. Oppenheim didn't give up and called Mizrachi's raise, then check-called Mizrachi's bet after seeing the 3♥ hit on the river. Whatever Oppenheim was holding, it didn't stand up to the Grinder's Kings as Oppenheim mucked.
Fifty-four players began day three but after 12 hours of play only 21 remained. Defending champion David "Gunslinger" Bach was one of several big-name casualties. Others included 2009 Player-of-the-Year Jeff Lisandro, along with Barry Greenstein, Noah Boeken, Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey. The remaining 21 players will sit down at the felt at 3 p.m. on Monday and fight to make it through another day.
Catch up on all the action from Day 3 in our WSOP Live Reporting pages.
Event #3: $1,000 no limit hold 'em
The field was so large in the first open no-limit hold'em event of the 2010 WSOP that it required two Day 1's to accommodate the entire field.
After 10 levels of play, a mere 205 of the 1,744 players who sat down on Day 1b remained, with Braxton Dunaway leading the pack with a chip stack of 125,000.
Limit hold 'em specialist Terrence Chan was the final casualty of the day when he got his remaining 7,400 in chips into the middle holding A♥10♦. Action folded to the big blind who made the call with A♠Q♠, and a flop of A♥10♣Q♦ left Chan hoping for one of two remaining tens in the deck. The 4♣ fell on the turn and the 7♦ on the river sent Chan packing.
Day 2 will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Monday with the 271 players left from Day 1a and the 200 left from Day 1b looking to get a piece of the $3,910,500 prize pool. [I]Follow all the action live here. [/I]
Event #4: 1,500 Omaha hi-lo 8 or better
The first full Omaha tournament of the 2010 WSOP got under way Sunday with 820 entrants sitting down to the game that has gained popularity in the last few years. After a day of scooping and chopping, Oleg Shamardin was at the top of the leaderboard with 70,800 in chips, far ahead of Scott Epstein with the second largest stack at 45,400, and Daniel Klein with 39,900.
Only 297 will return to the Rio at 3 p.m. on Monday to begin Day 2 to try to become one of the lucky 81 players who takes home a piece of the $1,104,300 prize pool. Jimmy Fricke, Jeff Madsen Erick Lindgren and Todd Brunson will be among them. Those who won't be back include Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, Bill Chen, Matt Savage and Tony G.
Notably absent from the field was Omaha extraordinaire Scott Clements, who decided not to play after being eliminated from the Players Championship earlier in the day.
Get your Day 2 Omaha hi-lo fix with PokerNews, by checking out our live coverage.
On Tap
In addition to all the players in the three events that will be restarting on Memorial Day, additional players and railbirds are sure to pack the Rio again when Event #5, the 1,500 no-limit hold'em gets under way at 12 p.m. Our team will be on the floor bringing you live updates, photos, videos and more.
Video of the Day
After busting out of the $50,000 Players Championship playing a $1,500 event is a lot tougher to get up for. Watch Tony G's video blog to see what kind of action it takes to get him amped up for $1,500 Omaha hi-lo event.
