Welcome to Day 3 of Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Today is the day a champion will be crowned, earning $592,684 and a gold bracelet for his efforts. Before that happens though, there is still plenty of play left for the 22 remaining players.
Niall Farrell (792,000) will be the chip leader to start the day and is followed closely by Michael Rocco (780,000). Both of them maintained their big stacks and used them to their advantage for most of Day 2. While Farrell and Rocco might have the big stacks, all eyes are on Jason Mercier (566,000) who is sitting on an above average stack and looking for his first final table of the summer.
Play will resume at 1 p.m. local time in the Amazon Room. As always, keep it here on PokerNews for continuing live coverage from the tournament floor including hand-for-hand coverage of the final table.
While you are waiting for the action to begin, get caught up on all the news with Lynn Gilmartin, who has your June 26th update. We will meet you back here in a bit.
Eight minutes into play and the first elimination of the day occurred when Marco Johnson moved all in from the button for his final 124,000 and was called by Evan Schwartz in the big blind.
Johnson:
Schwartz:
The board ran out and Johnson was eliminated in 22nd place.
Joel Seewald had quite the run in this event and it started before the cards were even in the air. Seewald was a winner of free seat to this event from WSOP.com. On his way to his 21st place finish, Seewald knocked out former Main Event Champion, Jonathan Duhamel. All Seewald, a Las Vegas resident, had to do to win his seat was sign up for a free account with the site.
Seewald was short-stacked most of the day yesterday and came into the day with just eight big blinds. He played the short stack well and got it in good against Phillip Vert. The action started when Vert raised to 20,000 from under the gun and was called by Jason Mercier on the button. Seewald moved all in from the small blind and was followed by an all in from Vert. This prompted Mercier to fold and the hands were tabled.
Seewald:
Vert:
Seewald went to the flop ahead and looking for the double up. The flop was good to him as was the river. The river, however, would end Seewald's magical run and send him home $17, 910 richer.
Zohair Karim raised it up to 22,000 in middle position, and it folded around to Giang Hoang in the small blind. He moved all in for his last 90,000, and Jeff Tims committed the rest of his minute stack in the big blind. Karim toss the call in, and said, "I need a suckout!"
Karim:
Hoang:
Tims:
Karim was surprised to see that he was actually ahead, and the flop hit Karim, coming . Hoang was drawing to runner runner, while Tims could still pair one of his cards to win, but the turn was the , and the river the .
The double elimination got us to our final 18,while Karim is our chip leader with 1.3 million.
On the first hand after the two table redraw, Jason Mercier opened to 20,000 in early position. Larry Quang was next to act, and he shoved all in for his last 120,000. It folded back around to Mericer, and he snap called.
Mercier:
Quang:
Quang got a sweat on the flop when it came down . He could not catch a ten for a straight, but it wasn't meant to be, as the board completed and . After collecting that KO, Mericer is now up to 900,000.
The Rio is buzzing with the $111,111 One Drop High Rollers event, and the crew takes a look at some of the big names in the field. They also do a little fantasy draft for the tournament with the Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, Ty Stewart.
Action folded around to Niall Farrell in the hijack, and he raised it to 32,000. Darryl Ronconi was next to act, and he moved all in, a bet of around 180,000. It got back to Farrell, and he made the call.
Farrell:
Ronconi:
Ronconi was hoping to catch an ace, but it never came, and the board ran down . After winning that hand, Farrell is back up to 655,000.
We have just seen what was not only one of the sickest hands of the WSOP so far, but arguably of the whole year in poker, as Jason Mercier was just eliminated in a ginormous pot.
Mercier opened the action with a raise to 35,000, and Michael Rocco made it 105,000 right behind him. It folded back to Mercier, and he tossed the call in. The two saw a flop of , and Mercier checked to Rocco, who bet out 129,000. Mercier started to shuffle some chips and tanked for about 30 seconds before putting out a check raise to 260,000. Rocco only thought for a few moments before calling, and the turn was the .
Mercier thought it over for a bit before checking again, and Rocco only took a few moments to move all in. Mercier insta snap called him, and we had a pot for 20% of the chips in play with 16 players left.
Mercier:
Rocco:
Mercier had a full house, nines full of sevens, while Rocco was left with just the overpair of aces. In a flash, the dealer brought down the on the river, giving Rocco a better full house and causing the whole table to audibly groan. Mercier head sulked for just a couple of seconds before he gathered his things, and wished everyone luck. The whole table was still in shock as Mercier's mountain of chips were shipped over to Rocco, who now has a commanding chip lead of 1.95 million.
Nam Le opened the action by raising to 36,000 and Ian Simpson answered by moving all in. A few other players contemplated along the way but it ended up folding back to Le. Le insta-called Simpson's all in.
Simpson:
Le:
Simpson was behind and stood up to await his fate. The board came down and Simpson headed to the rail in 14th place.
![[user250068]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Johnson was eliminated in 22nd place.
flop was good to him as was the 
river. The 
river, however, would end Seewald's magical run and send him home $17, 910 richer.
. Hoang was drawing to runner runner, while Tims could still pair one of his cards to win, but the turn was the 
, and the river the 
.
. After collecting that KO, Mericer is now up to 900,000.
. After winning that hand, Farrell is back up to 655,000.
and Simpson headed to the rail in 14th place.
