Welcome back to the Wynn Las Vegas and the Wynn Fall Classic for Day 3 of the European Open Special Edition.
Sunday saw just 119 players return from the 673-player starting field to firstly play down until the money before making a run at reaching the final table. Players were eliminated at a furious rate before it would be Michael Macey becoming the tournament bubble boy when he was eliminated on the feature table by Federico Butteroni in a blind-on-blind battle with losing to .
From there, eliminations rolled out at an intense rate as multiple players shared the chip lead along the way. However, once play was abruptly halted due to security reasons of the players, it would be 2016 Unibet Open Malta Champion Martin Soukup leading the charge with 1,977,000; after one point having over 2 million in chips.
Soukup was nestled on the feature table, and fortunately for him he had direct position on the next two players on the leaderboard in Hong Zhang (1,283,000) and Jordan Cristos (1,202,000), while Day 1b chip leader Egi Adriaans sits on the feature table and is fourth overall with 1,055,000. Yngve Steen sits fifth on the leaderboard with 1,025,000 and is the only player on the secondary table that is in the seven-figure club. Federico Butteroni (876,000), Rex Clinkscales (788,000), and Joe Serock (687,000) are also still in contention as all eyes will be on the $113,059 first prize and title of European Open Special Edition Champion when the final 17 players return on Monday.
Day 3 Seating Draw
Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Feature Table
1
Jordan Cristos
USA
1,202,000
Feature Table
2
Martin Soukup
Czech Republic
1,977,000
Feature Table
3
Joris Springael
Belgium
520,000
Feature Table
4
Ekrem Bozkurt
Turkey
310,000
Feature Table
5
Andrey Plotnikov
Russia
818,000
Feature Table
6
Rex Clinkscales
USA
778,000
Feature Table
7
Egi Adriaans
Belgium
1,055,000
Feature Table
8
Andrew Warren
USA
624,000
Feature Table
9
Hong Zhang
China
1,283,000
Secondary Table
1
Florin Haiduc
Romania
315,000
Secondary Table
2
--empty--
--
--
Secondary Table
3
Joe Serock
USA
687,000
Secondary Table
4
Mark Hagendijk
Netherlands
555,000
Secondary Table
5
Federico Butteroni
Italy
876,000
Secondary Table
6
Yngve Steen
Norway
1,025,000
Secondary Table
7
Ryan Readenour
USA
788,000
Secondary Table
8
Jim Agate
USA
385,000
Secondary Table
9
Henrik Tellving
Sweden
309,000
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be back on the floor to provide continuous live updates of all the European Open Special Edition action once play restarts at 2:00 p.m. (PDT). So stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com as we play down until the European Open Special Edition Champion is crowned.
Ryan Readenour limped in from the hijack, as did Henrik Tellving from the button. The action was on Florin Haiduc in the small blind, and he moved all in for 397,000. The action passed back to Readenour, and he called, as Tellving folded.
Readenour:
Haiduc:
The board ran out and Haiduc was eliminated in 17th place for a $6,452 payday.
Federico Butteroni opened to 55,000 from under the gun, and with the action on Andrew Warren in the small blind, he three-bet to 150,000. The action folded back to Butteroni, and he moved all in for with Warren quickly calling.
Butteroni:
Warren:
The board ran out and Butteroni was eliminated in 16th place for a $6,452 payday.
The action folded to Jim Agate in the hijack, and he moved all in for 332,000. Andrew Warren called in the small blind, and the cards were tabled.
Agate:
Warren:
The board ran out and Agate was eliminated in 15th place for $7,355. After those two back-to-back eliminations, Warren is now up to 1.7 million in chips.
On the last hand of the level, the action folded to Hong Zhang in the small blind, and he moved all in for 640,000. Jordan Cristos called from the big blind, and the cards were tabled.
Zhang:
Cristos:
The board ran out and Zhang was eliminated from the tournament in 14th place as Cristos climbs towards 3 million in chips.
Joe Serock opened the cutoff to 80,000 and both Ryan Readenour and Henrik Tellving called in the blinds.
The flop landed and the action was checked to Serock who bet 145,000. Readenour folded, but Tellving pushed all in for 560,000. Serock called, and the cards were tabled.
Serock:
Tellving:
The turn and river landed the and , and Tellving was eliminated in 10th place for a $9,727 payday.
The action folded to Ryan Readenour in the small blind, and he limped in. Jordan Cristos checked his option in the big blind, and the dealer fanned a flop.
Readenour led out for 135,000 and Cristos called as the laned on the turn. Readenour pushed all in for roughly 370,000, and Cristos quickly called.
Readenour:
Cristos:
Cristos held two-pair, and for Readenour to stay alive, he would need to find a king or eight.
The river fell the , and Readenour was eliminated in 9th place for a $11,320 payday as Cristos climbed to over 4.2 million in chips.
From under the gun, Andrey Plotnikov pushed all in for his last 750,000. The action folded to Egi Adriaans, and he called from the button.
Plotnikov:
Adriaans:
With Plotnikov at-risk and trailing, the furthered his disadvantage as the landed on the turn.
Needing only an ace or queen to stay alive, the river would fall the , and Plotnikov would be eliminated in 8th place for a $13,384 payday as Adriaans climbs to 2.7 million in chips.