Day 3 Comes to an End with Christopher DeMaci Leading the Way
At the start of the day, 81 players returned for Day 3 of the 2010 PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Los Angeles Main Event at the Bicycle Casino. All of the players were in the money but were looking to navigate the field and make the last final table of NAPT Season 1. By night’s end only 19 players remained, with Christopher DeMaci emerging as the Day 3 chip leader with 3.783 million.
The next closest competitor to our chip leader is Micah Raskin with 2.356 million. In addition, Jason Mercier (2.15 million), Anh Van Nguyen (834,000), and George Lind III (538,000) are all still alive and looking to represent Team PokerStars; while Matt Affleck (447,000), Joe Tehan (1.25 million) and Michael Binger also made it through to Day 4.
In one of the more decisive hands of the day, Binger four-bet shoved all in against James Casement, who called off for a total of 700,000! Casement was the one at risk in a pot worth 1.5 million but was in a great position to double with his 
against the 
of Binger. If he lost, Binger would be severely crippled and essentially out of the tournament. Lucky for him, the flop fell 
and thrust him into the lead. The 
on the turn gave Casement a pair of kings but also gave Binger two pair. Casement needed an ace on the river but it was not meant to be as the 
hit. Binger came from behind to take down the huge pot and increased his stack to 1.75 million. He eventually ended the day with 2.026 million.
Also doing well today was PokerStars Team Pro (USA) member Mercier, who began Day 3 with just 158,000. He managed to chip up early but put his tournament life on the line when the following hand came up. Action had folded to Mercier so he put in a raise to 25,000. Jacob Toole then decided to reraise 55,000 and Mercier responded by moving all in for a total of 325,000. Toole snap-called and suddenly Mercier’s tournament life was at stake.
Mercier:
Toole: 
The 
flop was no help to Mercier and neither was the 
on the turn, although it did give him some straight outs. Mercier was one card from elimination but the 
on the river gave him renewed life and a stack of 700,000. Mercier would go on to finish the day with 2,150,000.
Unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as Mercier and Binger. Some of the big names to hit the rail throughout the day included NAPT Venetian winner Thomas Marchese, Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, Gavin Griffin, Eric “Sheets” Haber, Josh Brikis, Bryn Kenney, Chris Klodnicki and Christina Lindley.
Day 4 of the NAPT is set to kickoff at 1 PM local time tomorrow where the 19-player field will be reduced to the final table of eight. Join us then for all the action, eliminations, and chip counts, live from the Bike in Bell Gardens, California!