Welcome back to our coverage of the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit River Rock Main Event. Yesterday's play saw the 246 players from the three starting days combine to create the Day 2 field. At the end of the day a mere 30 participants remained with Sonny Sekhan leading the field with a stack of 1.762 million.
Yesterday's play saw a slew of notable faces return to the felt for their shot at poker glory. Unfortunately for some, they were unable to gain any momentum and busted before the field made the money. Alex Sutherland, Noah Vaillancourt, Greg Mueller, Mark Bonsack, and Matt Jarvis were just some of those players.
The money bubble was popped roughly halfway through the day once the field was whittled down to the final 108 players. Some of those to find their elimination after cashing were Darren Kennedy (107th), Daniel Idema (103rd), Day 2 chip leader Jingjing Liu (79th), Scott Stanko (69th), Scott Stiglitz (67th), Kelly Kellner (54th), Joel Micka (42nd), and Isaac Baron (37th).
Today has the possibility of being a comparatively quick day as play will stop once the final table is reached. Be sure to stay tuned to our coverage as we remain on hand for the players' quest to the final table!
It was a relatively short day of poker here in the River Rock Theatre for the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event. The final 30 players returned to vie for a spot at the prestigious final table. Sonny Sekhon led the field coming into Day 3 and he held that lead all the way to the final table where he will bring a stack of 4.66 million with him.
Day 3 began at a rapid pace with players dropping like flies as they clashed on the felt. Several eyes in the tournament area were on Day 1a chip leader Norman Overdijk as he battled along the grueling road to the final table. Unfortunately for Overdijk, he found himself in a remarkably sour situation when he moved all in holding on a board that read . Overdijk was confident that his set was the best hand until Michael Collins rolled over for top set, thus forcing Overdijk to settle for a 25th place finish.
Players to bust early into the day include Trevor Martin, Antony Vidmer, and Kevin Huang who all locked up $7,848 in prize money. Douglas Wasyk and Robert Berglund took home $9,118 while Edmond Lu, Afshin Majidi, and Richard En earned $10,712. Jamie Youngman, David Lim, and David Pecaski fell into the pay bracket of $12,725 while Christopher Gunnarsson, Shreeniwas Kelkar and Mark Potovsky took home $15,279.
It was at this point in the tournament that play came to a halt as the players tightened up and the action slowed down. Eventually, Lawrence Iampen broke the silence on the tournament floor by getting in most of his stack with against the of Justin Ciolfitto. Iampens tens did not improve and he was soon eliminated. Joining him to the rail were Steven Schartner and Brian Scott who all collected $18,545 in winnings. The next two to go were Nick Halvorson and Andrew Tai who took home $22,756.
The elimination of Tai secured the unofficial final table and also led to Sekhon pulling way ahead of the pack. The board read and Sekhon three-bet all in which forced Tai to make a decision for his tournament life. Eventually Tai opted to call off his last 1.95 million chips and Sekhon showed for the nuts. Tai meekly tabled and could do nothing but shake his head. The hit the river and Sekhon was able to move his stack to well over 4 million.
The final table bubble boy was Seth Maretz who shipped his short stack all in with pocket fours and was called by Michael Collins' . The board did not help Maretz and our official final table was set.
Seat
Player
Chips
1
Mal Hagan
1,735,000
2
Michael Collins
1,595,000
3
Calvin Anderson
2,755,000
4
Tyler St. Clair
1,960,000
5
Sonny Sekhon
4,660,000
6
John Crncic
2,415,000
7
Ryan Biermann
3,085,000
8
Glenn Sullivan
1,010,000
9
Justin Ciolfitto
1,490,000
The final nine players will take their seats at the final table in the River Rock Theatre at 12:00 PM PST on Wednesday. They will play down until a champion is crowned with both a WSOP Circuit ring and the $286,382 first place prize that accompanies it. Join us as we provide you with all of the updates as this exciting event comes to its conclusion!