Darryll Fish Leads the Final 51 Players After Day 3 of the $5,300 Main Event

It was another eventful day at the Playground Poker Club for the partypoker MILLIONS North America $5,300 Main Event that saw 51 players advance to Day 4. It will be a familiar face leading the way when players return on Tuesday, as Darryll Fish bagged the chip lead with 98,450,000.

Fish came into the day with a mere 2,425,000 stack and was forced to grind his way into the money. Once the bubble burst, the Florida native slowly worked his way up the leaderboard but never really made any waves until the last two levels of the night. Fish finally found his mojo and started raking in pot after pot to work his way into the lead. With over $3.7 million in career earnings, Fish is still looking for his first ever seven-figure score and he has put himself in a great position to do so here in Montreal, Canada.

Not far behind the chip leader are a couple of unknown names who will be looking to make their mark on the poker scene. Guillaume Nolet (87,000,000) and Taylor Black (81,275,000) finished the day in the top three chip counts after some strong stellar play from start to finish. Some more notable names to be moving on to Day 4 include Joseph Cheong (60,975,000), partypoker Team Online Pro Renato Nomura (58,925,000), Kevin Rivest (42,125,000), Marc-Andre Ladouceur (41,750,000), partypoker Sponsored Pro Richard Dubini (41,375,000), Marvin Rettenmaier (17,225,000), and Antonio Esfandiari (15,650,000).

The day began with 285 players returning in what would be a race to reach the money. With only 250 places being paid, it wouldn't take long to reach the money bubble. Hand-for-hand play lasted around 30-minutes and ended with multiple all-ins throughout the room. It was Stephen Diamantas who burst the bubble when he flopped two pair against Andjelko Andrejevic with top pair and top kicker. Fortunately for Andrejevic, Ardavan Yazdi was all in on the other side of the room and was eliminated as well, resulting in each player taking home $5,000.

The remaining 249 players were all guaranteed $10,000 and wouldn't see a pay jump take place until the final 99 players remained. That created a ton of action and players started to hit the rail in a hurry. Some of the biggest names to also be eliminated in the money include Victor Ramdin (231st Place - $10,000), Jeff Gross (169th Place - $10,000), Seth Davies (131st Place - $10,000), Martin Jacobson (126th Place - $10,000), Micahel Gathy (87th Place - $12,500), Jean-Pascal Savard (58th Place - $15,000), and partypoker Sponsored Pro Kristen Bicknell (57th Place - $15,000) who was eliminated as the night was winding down.

The remaining 51 players will return on Tuesday at 12:00 PM EST with the blinds resuming at 400,000/800,000 and an 800,000 button ante. The action is scheduled to continue until a final table of eight players is reached. The blind levels will still increase at 60-minute intervals with a 15-minute break after every two levels.

A couple stories to follow will be that of Wayne Obrien who is the last online qualifier still remaining. Obrien qualified on a freeroll, getting into the tournament for free. He is now sitting with 39,800,000 heading into Day 4 and has guaranteed himself at least $17,500. There are also two brothers remaining in the tournament, Ryan Smith and Michael Smith, from Saskatoon, Canada. The Smith brothers are regular tournament grinders on the Western Canada poker circuit and have brought their talents to the largest tournament in Canadian history. Ryan bagged himself 10,200,000 while his brother Michael has slightly more with 11,400,000. The two played much of Day 3 at the same table looking each other in the eye, but will begin Day 4 on separate tables looking to run up a stack.

Day 4 Seat Draw

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
34	1	Patrick Tardif	Canada	19,350,000	24
34	2	David Nguyen	Canada	58,600,000	73
34	3	Joshua Platz	Canada	23,975,000	30
34	4	Mikko Turtiainen	Finland	24,100,000	30
34	5	Will Failla	United States	10,350,000	13
34	7	Michael Tieu	Canada	38,575,000	48
34	8	Norson Saho	Brazil	30,650,000	38

35	1	Marc-Andre Ladouceur	Canada	41,750,000	52
35	2	Joseph Cheong	United States	60,975,000	76
35	3	Charles La Boissonniere	Canada	40,000,000	50
35	4	Ubaid Habib	United States	30,925,000	39
35	5	Ryan Wolters	Canada	73,725,000	92
35	7	Antonio Esfandiari	United States	15,650,000	20
35	8	Matthew Volosevich	United States	31,300,000	39

36	1	Ryan Smith	Canada	10,400,000	13
36	2	Ludovic Geilich	Scotland	12,175,000	15
36	3	Wayne Obrien	Canada	39,800,000	50
36	4	Lucas Drolet	Canada	78,400,000	98
36	5	Joel Brown	Canada	33,800,000	42
36	6	Darryll Fish	United States	98,450,000	123
36	7	Gregory Roberts	United States	68,675,000	86
36	8	Chi Tsun Chan	Canada	44,025,000	55

37	1	Tommy Nguyen	Canada	29,350,000	37
37	2	Kevin Rivest	Canada	42,125,000	53
37	4	Jason Duval	Canada	55,900,000	70
37	5	John Richards	United States	39,850,000	50
37	6	Joshua Trott	Canada	41,000,000	51
37	7	Ema Zajmovic	Canada	19,200,000	24
37	8	Michael Smith	Canada	11,200,000	14

38	2	Senthuran Vijayaratnam	Canada	20,200,000	25
38	3	Brian Yoon	United States	40,850,000	51
38	4	Ashkan Razavi	Canada	9,250,000	12
38	5	Macradij Yacoubian	United States	14,500,000	18
38	6	Marvin Rettenmaier	United Kingdom	17,225,000	22
38	7	Demosthenes Kiriopoulos	Canada	23,000,000	29
38	8	Renato Nomura	Brazil	58,925,000	74

39	1	Taylor Black	United States	81,275,000	102
39	2	Jorge Martinez	United States	47,525,000	59
39	3	Guillaume Nolet	Canada	87,000,000	109
39	4	Tsz Him Pun	United Kingdom	20,275,000	25
39	5	Daniel Strelitz	United States	48,850,000	61
39	6	Richard Dubini	Argentina	41,375,000	52
39	7	Michael Pitcher	Canada	28,775,000	36
39	8	Pfizer Jordan	United States	20,075,000	25

40	2	James Gilbert	United States	52,850,000	66
40	3	Manig Loeser	United Kingdom	10,600,000	13
40	4	George Lagos	Canada	37,900,000	47
40	5	Markus Prinz	Germany	25,000,000	31
40	6	Michael Benko	Canada	25,000,000	31
40	7	Anthony Ruberto	Usa	69,900,000	87
40	8	Brian Hastings	United States	14,275,000	18