Joe Villella Wins $18,334; 89 Remain in Event 3
Joe Villella pocketed $18,334 for outlasting a field of 140 runners in the $500 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better event. He won a gigantic hand against Hamid Kashvari when both had hefty stacks, which propelled Villella to a chip lead he never came close to relinquishing.
Villella can now accomplish his main goal for the day: drive three hours home to his child's birthday party and avoid the wrath of his wife.
Meanwhile, 89 players remain in the $560 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold'em Re-entry tournament, and 54 will cash when the tournament resumes at noon. Alan Dworetsky leads the way with 478,600, while Abdul Amer is in a distant second with 403,300. Other large stacks include Edgardo Rosario (394,800), Tony Sinishtas (316,500), Stephen Knoble (278,700) and Sung Kim (275,300). Notable players who bagged up include Andy Hwang (261,000), Coleem Chestnut (165,300), Erik Cajelais (156,800), Dan Buzgon (155,400), James Woods (110,900) and Amnon Filippi (46,400).