World Poker Tour Legends of Poker: Little Takes Chips and Headlines from Collins as He Goes for WPT Title #3
Day 2 of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event was all about Phil Collins, but it was Jonathan Little who dominated Day 3 at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Little did more than his share of the eliminating to help narrow the field from 60 to 15. He heads into Day 4 second in chips behind Andrew Frankenberger. The remaining 15 players all have their eyes on the $750,000 first prize, but Little, the WPT Season VI Player of the Year, has an added incentive. He has a chance to win his third WPT main event and tie Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen for most career WPT titles.
Day 3's first task was to eliminate 15 players and burst the money bubble. Tim Phan and Chris "gcnmoo" Moore were among those to go home empty handed. Little did the honors of knocking out bubble boy Brian Patrick when his A♦10♣ out-flopped Patrick's pocket sevens. That sent Patrick home in 46th place with no money and guaranteed everyone else in the room $10,200.
Amit "amak316" Makhija was the first person to take advantage of the min-cash, though he was less than pleased to find himself in the payout line one hand after the bubble burst. Ali Elsami andJonathan Aguiar kept him company in line a few minutes later. The busts kept coming quickly, partly because of the flat payout structure. While 45th place earns $10,200, 16th place gets just $15,500.
JC Alvarado began the day as one of the biggest stacks but couldn't hold on to his chips, hitting the rail in 38th place. November Niner Soi Nguyen and Marco "CrazyMarco" Johnson weren't far behind. Joe Sebok had a rollercoaster of a day but won't have to worry about finishing seventh — he was eliminated in 32nd place. Erica Schoenberg doubled and doubled and doubled to become one of the chip leaders, but Jonathan Little stacked her in one giant pot to send her packing in 30th place and take over the chip lead.
Collins, who ran his 13,000-chip starting stack up to nearly 900,000 on Day 2, started with a 300,000-chip lead over his nearest opponent, Frankenberger. But just like the day before, Collins stack underwent massive renovation in a few minutes. This time, it was from a million chips to nothing. Collins was down to a fraction of his former self when he moved all in on the river of a 10♦9♣7♣2♠4♥ board. When Little called him down, all Collins could show was K♥J♥ for king-high. Little's Q♥9♥ was just second pair, but that was enough to bust Collins in 29th place.
Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler's battle ended in 20th place, earning him $13,000. After a few more quick eliminations, including Darryll Fish and David "Doc" Sands, only 15 players were left standing. Frankenberger bagged and tagged 1.958 million, giving him the lead over Little's 1.314 million. Steve Reitzfeld and John Smith are next, and Tom "Titan Tom" Braband rounds out the top five. They'll all return to the Bike on Tuesday to play down to the six-handed televised final table. All eyes will be on Little as he attempts to continue his role as executioner and make a run at title number three.
Follow all of the Day 4 drama at www.WorldPokerTour.com and check PokerNews for hot-off-the-felt action.
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