World Poker Tour Festa al Lago Day 3: Money Bubble Bursts, O'Dwyer Leads
When Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Festa al Lago began, 99 players had taken their seats with the hopes of making it through the day. The plan was to play five 90-minute levels and end the day. At the end of play, 41 players were left and Steve O'Dwyer bagged the most chips, leading the way into Day 4 with a stack of 910,000.
The field made the money Sunday, but not all the players were lucky enough to take home at least a min-cash.Vivek Rajkumar, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst, Lee Markholt, and Maria Ho were some of the unlucky ones. The money bubble burst in the 15th level of play when Gavin Smith moved all-in over the top of Owen Crowe's shove. Crowe showed Q♦10♣ and was well behind Smith's A♥K♠. The board did nothing to improve Crowe's hand, and he was eliminated in 51st place, taking home nothing. The remaining 50 players would all be taking home at least $12,896. Smith didn't hang around too long after the bubble burst, he was eliminated in 48th place by Jimmy Tran.
The first player to reach the one million chip mark was O'Dwyer. It occurred in a pot against one of Day 2's big stacks, Annette Obrestad. With a board reading 4♥3♦2♥8♥ and already 90,000 in the pot, Obrestad check-called O'Dwyer's bet of 60,000. The river brought the 10♥. Obrestad made a bet of 105,000 and O'Dwyer gave it some thought before announcing "call." O'Dwyer showed Q♥J♥ for a queen-high flush and Obrestad tossed her cards in the muck.
Noah Schwartz, Lauren Kling, Barry Greenstein, Allen Kessler, Matt Affleck, Mark Newhouse, Thomas Marchese, and Obrestad are all among the 41 players who will be returning on Monday.
Top Ten Chip Counts
1. Steve O'Dwyer - 910,000
2. Randal Flowers - 795,500
3. Jeff Madsen - 750,000
4. Jason Koon - 705,000
5. Brandon Steven - 670,000
6. Ryan Goindoo - 650,000
7. Andreas Hoivold - 470,000
8. Jared Jaffee - 426,500
9. Daniel Alaei - 415,000
10. Michael Benvenuti - 400,000
Action resumes Monday at noon local time and you can follow all the updates at WorldPokerTour.com.
