Koral Leads Final Eighteen Players in Event #44: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.; Matusow, Hughes in Contention

Eighteen players will return at 2 p.m. local time for Day 3 and the final day of Event #44: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E.. They're all guaranteed at least $7,141 for making their way through a stacked field of 399 of the best mixed-game players. However, all eyes are on the first-place prize of $256,226 and the coveted gold WSOP bracelet that awaits the winner at the end of the night.

Tom Koral starts the day as the chip leader with 770,000 in chips. Koral has already racked up over $1.7 million in lifetime winnings, including three deep runs in the WSOP Main Event. However, a WSOP bracelet is still missing on his impressive poker résumé, and Koral will start from pole position to try and cross that one off his bucket list.

In the hunt are Phil Hui (516,000), Marcus Mizzi (485,000), Gabe Paul (485,000), and David Steicke (441,000). Multiple bracelet winners are left as well; two-time winner Ryan Hughes sits in 10th with 288,000, four-time champion Mike Matusow returns with 212,000 and is in 15th place.

After being severely short stacked on Day 2, Matusow was able to climb out of the hole and keep himself in contention. Brimming with confidence, Matusow said: "They couldn't bust me when I had 4,500, how the f*** are they gonna bust me now? I'm the best short-stack player in the world! I've got all the confidence in the world. You can't beat confidence."

It's been quite the summer for "The Mouth" who's looking to make his fourth final table of the 2017 series and a shot at another piece of hardware. The four-time bracelet winner has set his sights on breaking Phil Ivey's final table record set in 2010 [five] and needs to make just two more to tie.

The 18 remaining players will return as follows to Brasilia for the final day of the event.

Room	Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
Brasilia	700	1	Seamus Cahill	Ireland	287,000
Brasilia	700	3	Don Zewin	United States	155,000
Brasilia	700	4	Matthew Honig	United States	240,000
Brasilia	700	6	Nikolay Fal	Russia	222,000
Brasilia	700	7	Valentin Vornicu	United States	62,000
Brasilia	700	8	Matthew Schreiber	United States	388,000

Brasilia	701	1	Ryan Hughes	United States	288,000
Brasilia	701	2	Gabe Paul	United States	484,000
Brasilia	701	3	Ryan Himes	United States	219,000
Brasilia	701	5	Mike Matusow	United States	212,000
Brasilia	701	7	Alex Livingston	Canada	146,000
Brasilia	701	8	Richard Bai	United States	371,000

Brasilia	702	1	Marcus Mizzi	Canada	485,000
Brasilia	702	3	Dmitry Chop	Ukraine	346,000
Brasilia	702	4	Tom Koral	United States	770,000
Brasilia	702	5	Phillip Hui	United States	516,000
Brasilia	702	6	David Steicke	Hong Kong	441,000
Brasilia	702	7	Brendan Taylor	United States	312,000