Day 3 in the Books; Anter on Top Going into Overtime

Day 3 of WSOP Event #56 has come to a close and due to the hard-stop rule, we’re now wrapping things up here in the Amazon Room with only three players remaining.

42 players kicked off the action this afternoon in the wake of the Day 1a field of the Main Event, but despite the slow start, once Albert Strickland was busted, it ignited the players once again and we were down to just 18 players in the space of three hours of play.

The day wasn’t without controversy, with James Boyle’s erratic behavior causing a lot of problems for the players, highlighted by what could only be described as unsportsmanlike conduct during a pivotal hand between Rayan Nathan and Gavin Smith. Clearly rattled by what had occurred, Smith was eliminated in 12th place, then fellow Canadian Bryan Paris followed him to the rail in 11th place before the unofficial final table was set.

From there, Bryn Kenney was eliminated in 10th place after he lost the flip for his tournament life holding pocket jacks against Andy Philachack’s ace-king. He was joined by Boyle a short time later in ninth place; Boyle got the last of his money in with ace-king as well, but failed to improve against Philachack’s pocket sixes.

Selim Oulmekki changed gears from that point, commanding most of the action at the tables, but Ryan Goindoo was then taken out by John Horvatich in eighth place after his {4-Spades} {4-Diamonds} were counterfeited by Horvatich’s {A-Clubs} {Q-Clubs} on the {6-Hearts} {7-Diamonds} {7-Spades} {6-Clubs} {3-Spades} board.

Rayan Nathan was the next to go in seventh place when he got the last of his stack in the middle with {A-Hearts} {6-Diamonds} , but ran into Hasan Anter’s {K-Hearts} {K-Diamonds} . Then both John Horvatich and John Borzio were sent packing in fifth and fourth place respectively; Horvatich had gotten his money in good with {K-Spades} , but Anter’s {8-Spades} {8-Clubs} hit the set on the flop and then improved to a full house. Borzio was then eliminated in the very next hand when he found himself on the wrong end of the biggest three-way pot of the tournament.

Oulmekki’s aggression then got the better of him; he was busted in fourth place when he got his money in on a board that read {8-Hearts} {6-Hearts} {Q-Clubs} {9-Clubs} with {J-Spades} {8-Spades} , but Anter had made two pair with his {Q-Diamonds} {J-Hearts} to take him out.
Nemer Haddad was then at risk twice, but doubled up both times through Anter to stay alive, but from that point, there was not much else to write home about. With that said, we’ll be back here at 2.30pm tomorrow to finish this one off!

Who will take home the gold? Hasan Anter? Andy Philachack? Nemer Haddad? There’s no way of no of knowing, unless you tune in with PokerNews again tomorrow from 2.30pm PST (GMT -7) as we bring you all the updates. Thanks for staying with us, and until then, buenos noches!