McKeehen Far Out In Front of Final Eight After Incredible Day 3 of the $5,300 The Return
Day 3 of $5,300 The Return in the Borgata was one to remember as 53 players played all the way down to 8 over the span of 15 hours. The day was prime entertainment as it included some of the most interesting hands, characters and stakes that any poker fan would want to see deep in a major event.
Ending the day as the chip leader of the remaining eight was Joe McKeehen with 12.385,000. McKeehen is, of course, one of poker’s more well-known names and he looked poised to make the final table throughout the day as he was always among the chip leaders and took even more control as the final table approached. Despite a couple of late bumps in the road, he ended the day bombastically with a classic aces over kings cooler to take overwhelming chip lead.
Second in chips to end the night was Jonathan Borenstein with 6,900,000 who stayed steady throughout the day before exploding just prior to the final table, to take the big chip lead as the final nine congregated onto one table.
Justin Saliba was third in chips to end the night as he bagged 5,730,000. It took some work for him to get to that mark as he was a short stack much of the day. He was nearly out the door with two tables left just before dinner when his queens ran into aces, but an unlikely straight on the board gave him a chop to throw him a lifeline. He was the short stack with nine remaining. But two doubles in a short time launched him up the counts where he would eventually end in third.
Christopher Ng (4,640,000) made a big call in one of the final hands of the night against McKeehen to move himself up the counts and into fourth.
Bin Weng started the day as the huge chip leader but he was never able to find much upward traction on the day as he hovered around the same chip amount for hours which allowed others to catch up. But nevertheless, he was able to coast into the final table without much drama as the fifth biggest stack with 4,440,000.
Sam Laskowitz (2,170,000), Sundiata Devore (1,985,000) and Lanny Vaysman (1,755,000) rounded out the final eight to end the night. All three had large stacks at one point, especially Vaysman who was the chip leader in the middle part of the day.
Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lanny Vaysman | 1,755,000 | 18 |
| 2 | Justin Saliba | 5,730,000 | 57 |
| 3 | Joe McKeehen | 12,385,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Sundiata Devore | 1,985,000 | 20 |
| 6 | Sam Laskowitz | 2,170,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Jonathan Borenstein | 6,900,000 | 69 |
| 8 | Bin Weng | 4,400,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Christopher Ng | 4,640,000 | 46 |
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The day started with 53 and eliminations came at a steady clip. There were several memorable characters throughout the day which made things entertaining, including Howard Feingold who went out in 19th place after he was the center of the room’s attention many times with his big personality.
Another was Frank Pasquale who bowed out in eleventh place and ultimately Grant Lang who was very talkative late in the night as he enjoyed what he said was his first poker playing experience since 2015. He would become the victim of the aforementioned cooler against McKeehen and was the last elimination of the night in ninth place.
Several other players notable players to come up short in their attempt to make Day 4 included; Frank Funaro (46th),Dan Zack (44th) and Aubrey Williams (13th).
Play will resume with the final eight, on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time with 30 minutes remaining in Level 28, meaning that there is still plenty of play in the stacks.
There will be a live stream of the final table which will begin at 2:30 local time.
Stay tuned as PokerNews will bring you home with the coverage tomorrow on a delay, in congruence with the stream coverage.