Chips are being riffled, cards are being dealt, and poker is being played. Play has resumed here in Level 11.
They'll play two more hours, stopping in the middle of Level 12 to go for the dinner break. The plan then will be to play two more hours after they return before stopping this evening.
Two more hours done? Already? So much has happened.
Kevin Gates came back from the last break and took down a monster pot from Marco Johnson, catapulting him to 550,000 and the chip lead. Ricardo Fasanaro was soon there to challenge him, but lost a big pot to Jean-Robert Bellande which ended with both players being in the 300,000s. Others lately pushing forward to the top of the counts include Frank Kassela (looking for his third WSOP bracelet this summer), Mikhail Shamalov, and Nicholas Rainey.
But the big story emerging here on Day 3 so far has to be two-time WSOP Main Event winner Johnny Chan. Chan added more to his stack over the last couple of hours, and as we take our second break he sits at the top of the counts.
On the flip side, we lost David Sklansky, Gabe Kaplan, Jennifer Harman, Chris Moneymaker, Erik Seidel, David Williams, and Paul Wasicka over the last couple of hours. And Daniel Negreanu had his kings cracked by a player holding ace-king thanks to a river ace, sending Kid Poker down into super-short-stack territory.
Looks like about 1,850 players will be returning from this break with chips. See you back here in 20 minutes and together we'll see how they fare.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Last hand before the break, and Jake Cody got his last in with pocket tens. Alexander Vecherkovski was holding 
, and once he'd spiked an ace, Cody hit the rail, meaning that the EPT Deauville champion will not be adding a WSOP bracelet to his record this year..
Isaac Baron called his opponent's all in bet preflop and the two turned over their cards:
Baron: 
Opponent: 
Baron was behind but caught help on the 
flop. His opponent was in trouble but smiled when he hit the 
on the turn. Baron needed to catch a queen on the river and that is just what he did as the 
fell. Baron eliminated his opponent and is up to 125,000.
David "Devilfish" Ulliott has been nursing a short stack lately. In a recent hand, he was in the big blind with two limpers in front. He pushed all in for around 14,000 and managed to take down the pot then and there.
He is sittting with about 18,000, which isn't much considering the blinds and antes. He'll have his work cut out for him if he hopes to make a comeback.
When we reached his table, Billy "Patrolman35" Kopp was heads up with Roderic Boling and the flop had already fallen 
. Kopp check-called 6,000 from Boling and the 
turned. Kopp check-called 9,000 this time and the 
rivered. Both players checked.
Boling opened for just ace-high and Kopp tabled 
for a pair of threes.
"This ain't the internet boys," Boling professed. "That's OK, you'll give it back eventually.
Kopp said nothing, rather he just stacked his newfound chips which put him at 175,000.
Players at Joe Cada's table (including the former Main Event champ himself) were involved in a six-way pot that had been raised to 4,300 preflop. The board read 
and action was checked to the player on the button, who raised to 16,200. Players folded to the cutoff who announced he was all in for 39,100.
The player on the button asked for a count and then tanked for about 12 minutes. At this point one of the players called clock. The dealer asked for floor staff to attend the table to administer the countdown, but there were no floor staff in sight. The button had himself another couple of minutes and eventually folded before floor staff arrived.
We don't know how 40,000 chips wound up in a pot contested between Carter Phillips and one other player. That was the size of the pot as Phillips faced a bet of 12,000 on a board of 
. Phillips really looked like he wanted to fold but ultimately called. Phillips opponent tabled a pair of kings, 
. Phillips nodded as if he knew he was beat before he put the chips in, flashed a pair of tens in the hole, and mucked.
Losing that pot pushed Phillips' count down to 305,000.
Dan Heimiller raised to 4,600 preflop, and next to act, Joe "Floes" Serock called. The flop came out 
, and Heimiller quickly checked. Serock followed suit, and they both checked again after the 
turn. Finally Heimiller gave up on checking after the river. He bet 8,600, and Serock looked him up. Heimiller flipped over 
, and Serock pushed his cards toward the dealer. Heimiller moved up to 66,000, while Floes finished the hand with 57,000.
PokerStars Team Pro JP Kelly is now officially dangerous after building his stack up to 200,000 in the space of two hands.
The first was a straight double through, Kelly getting his stack in with 
on the turn of an 
board before ducking a bullet on the river against .
Soon after, he defended his big blind with , leading to a flop of 
where he check-called a continuation bet. The turn brought a 
, putting a flush draw out there. Again, Kelly check-called. The river was the , and for the third consecutive time, Kelly check-called, this time a bet of 17,000, before being shown an inferior .
