Laurent Polito Retains Lead In Chase For WPT Title Number Three In Paris
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Laurent Polito finished Day 3 of the 2014 PMU.fr WPT National Paris at Cercle Clichy Montmartre in pole position in his hunt for an unprecedented third World Poker Tour National title, topping the pack with 4,830,000 in chips. Meanwhile, Alexandre Pereira Gama sat second with 3,855,000, and then in third was Carlo Savinelli with 1,680,000.
Day 3 saw 101 players return with 81 places set to be paid, and it didn’t take long for the bubble to be reached. Once it was, it took nearly an hour to burst as a series of double ups increased the tension.
Noemie Phu was eventually the unfortunate bubble girl after she finished in 82nd place. She had suffered a cooler by running the 
into 
to leave her short and then shoved the turn of a 
board holding the 
. Her opponent had the , and the 
river meant the remaining players were in the money.
Once the bubble burst, the usual flurry of eliminations saw the field quickly dwindle as the players who had locked up a €2,000 payday looked to gamble in the hopes of getting deeper. Stephan Ouzilou was accumulating chips at a steady rate at this point and stayed near the top for a bit, while Laurent Polito bided his time.
One of the highlights of the later levels of play was the behavior of Tarek Bouchama, who at times exasperated his fellow players with his constant chatter and the length of time he took to make decisions. Calculated or not, his antics would eventually see one player snap back at him, though soon after he was subject to a penalty from the floor. Bouchama didn't make many friends at the table, but he did make it through to the final day and could provide some interesting dynamics tomorrow.
Play will resume at 4 p.m. local time on Monday when the final 14 will play down to a winner. That winner will receive €140,000, with second place getting €94,500 and third place €61,000. Action will be covered from the start, and once the official final table of eight is reached, there will be on a live stream on a short delay with hole cards revealed.
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