There was already a big pot brewing between Johnny Chan and Chau Nguyen when we arrived at the table. There was about 24,000 in the middle, and the board read . Nguyen fired out a bet of 15,200, and Chan tossed in the call after about 20 seconds of thought. The river brought the , putting four cards to broadway on the board. Nguyen checked after a few moments of thought, and Chan did the same shortly after.
Nguyen flipped over for a turned set, and Chan slammed the stack of chips he was shuffling on the table, before folding his hand. As he did, the flashed. After the hand, Chan is down to 165,000.
While making the rounds we found Michael Nasserazad with a stack north of 500,000. He started the day with 244,000 so we got an opportunity to chat with him for a second.
He told us he doubled up on the second hand of the day holding against when an ace flopped. Then he said he won a couple of hands off of Sammy Farha to get some chips as well.
On Farha's elimination hand Nasserazad held and rivered a straight against Farha.
Former Detroit Lions tight end Eric Stocz has been eliminated. Stocz was hoping to match or better his 2011 WSOP Main Event performance in which he cashed for $30,974 after finishing 402nd. But he began today with a short stack of just over 46,000, and was knocked out during the first level of Day 3.
Jerry Yang opened for 3,600 from late position, and the big blind called. The flop came , and when checked to Yang bet 4,600. His opponent called. The turn was the , and this time Yang's opponent pushed out a bet of 8,000, and Yang called.
The river brought the and a bet of 12,000 from the big blind. Yang thought for two full minutes, then let his hand go.
Michael Marder moved all in from the cutoff for his last 7,500 and was called by Mike "Timex" McDonald and Mark Boyle in the blinds. Both active players checked the flop, as well as the turn, and McDonald bet 5,000 on the river.
Boyle got out of the way and McDonald showed for a king-high flush, which bested Marder's ten-high flush.
Zachary Hall entered the day with over 300,000 chips, but has been cut down significantly after losing a big race to Robert Corcione. All of the chips went into the middle preflop, and Hall held against Corcione's .
The board ran out , and Corcione won the pot.
It took the dealer three attempts to count down Corcione's stack however, and each time it was less and less. Finally, after checking and re-checking, the count was 132,900, leaving Hall with around 118,500.
We have a number of big stacks here in the Purple section of the Amazon Room. Michael Hack has been sitting tight for the most part during Level 11, maintaining his large stack. The cowboy-hat-wearing Jeremy Allen has chipped up during the first hour-and-a-half, and Erik Hellman has added a few as well. And Mark Demirdjian continues to climb toward current leaders Jason Somerville and Michael Nasserazad.
Another player coming into today with a big stack is Jonathan Fountain. He, too, sits in Purple, and just now was involved in a three-way hand that began with a Fountain raise from early position to 3,400 followed by two callers (late position and big blind).
The flop came . It checked to Fountain who bet 5,200 and only the late position player called. The turn was the , and when Fountain bet 9,300 his opponent tanked and then called again.
The river was the . This time Fountain fired 18,300, and when his opponent quickly called, Fountain instantly mucked his hand without seeing what his opponent had. (Nor did anyone else, as he was strangely not made to show.)
After chipping up during the first part of Level 11, Fountain is now back about to where he began Day 3.