[user75032]
Tom Dwan - eliminated
We saw Phil Hellmuth jump out of his chair, pump his fist and clap his hands. Tom Dwan then also stood up and shook Hellmuth's hand. They're now giving an interview to Leeann Tweeden; we're guessing Hellmuth eliminated Dwan. So far every all-in and call has been announced here at Caesars, but somehow this one was not, despite being on the feature table.
It's unclear what hand either player had or what the action was and since we're restricted to the media desk, we have absolutely no idea. Mark your brackets though -- Hellmuth advances to the quarterfinals.
PokerNews' Gloria Balding caught up with Phil Hellmuth in between matches and the two discussed Phil's Round of 32 match with Caesars qualifier Jeffrey Ishbia, yesterday's bout against Mike Sexton and Phil's rematch against online phenom Tom 'durrrr' Dwan.
[user75032]
We're already in the fourth blind levels, and still nobody has busted, nor has anyone doubled-up. The chip leads are starting to widen out though. Most notably, Phil Hellmuth has opened a 115,000-to-45,000 lead on Tom Dwan.
[user75032]
Tom Durr and Phil Hellmuth... silent as a tomb. Hellmuth had a slight lead at last check, about 89,000 to durrrr's 71,0000. The same can be said for the Juanda-Grospellier match and the Rousso-Wasicka match, where Juanda and Rousso each enjoy slight chip advantages at mostly silent tables.
Meanwhile, Nguyen and Negreanu are yukking it up at their table in the back center of the room.
[user75032]
No, not in their poker match -- the match remains relatively tight with no significant pots as of yet. Instead, Negreanu just gave Nguyen some good-natured and well-deserved ribbing by re-enacting Nguyen's performance from the $50K H.O.R.S.E. final table at the 2008 World Series of Poker.
"Where's my cocktails bro?" shouted Negreanu, looked around wildly. "Get that waitress over here. More cocktails!" To his credit, Nguyen laughed and covered his face with his hands, acknowledging that his behavior that night was not his best.
[user75032]
Scotty Who?
In what is surely a first for any televised poker tournament ever produced, cards are in the air twenty minutes early. Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan are on the feature table.
On the "secondary feature table" are Scotty Nguyen and... Scotty Nguyen? Daniel Negreanu showed up for his match against the Prince of Poker dressed as the Prince of Poker, complete with a wig, matching sunglasses, a matching white outfit and lots of bling.
"One thing's for sure," said Nguyen. "Scotty Nguyen's gonna win, baby."
[user75032]
That wraps up play in the "red" side of the draw for the day. Four players will return for the quarterfinals tomorrow. David Williams and Sam Farha will battle it out for the title of "Hearts Bracket Champion", while Huck Seed and David Oppenheim will do the same in the Diamonds Bracket.
There's one more round of matches tonight - the other half of the Third Round enters the field at 9:30pm local time. The matches that are on tap are:
Clubs Bracket
John Juanda v. Bertrand Grospellier
Phil Hellmuth v. Tom Dwan
Spades Bracket
Paul Wasicka v. Vanessa Rousso
Scotty Nguyen v. Daniel Negreanu
[user75032]
Oppenheim and Tran, on the final hand
David Oppenheim's fairy tale run through this tournament will live to see another round. Oppenheim was a last-minute substitution for Layne Flack after Flack had a "driving-related incident" with the City of Las Vegas police in the early hours of Friday morning. Oppenheim knocked off Vanessa Selbst in Round One, Phil Laak in Round Two, and has just defeated 2008 World Series of Poker Heads-Up Champion Kenny "Sick Call" Tran in Round Three.
Tran, on the short stack, open-shoved from the button with . Oppenheim called with and made his small pair hold up on a board of . He advances to the quarterfinals, where he will face Huck Seed.
[user75032]
Erick Lindgren - eliminated
We're not sure how it happened (we're restricted to a media desk away from the center of the floor) but somehow David Williams and Erick Lindgren wound up all in preflop. Williams tabled a huge hand, , while Lindgren tabled the powerhouse in what we assume was an unfortunately timed bluff. Lindgren did not improve on a board of .
That loss left Lindgren with 30,000 chips at limits of 3,000 and 6,000. He put them in the middle on the next hand with and was called by Williams, who showed another pair, . Williams moved onto the quarterfinals with a board of . Lindgren is eliminated but will receive $25,000 in consolation money.
![[user38449]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
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board ensued and Scotty took down the pot, worth right around 20,000, with a king-high flush.
Clubs Bracket 
Spades Bracket 
. Oppenheim called with 
.
and was called by Williams, who showed another pair, 
. Lindgren is eliminated but will receive $25,000 in consolation money.
