Main Event
Day 3 Started
2010-11 World Series of Poker Circuit - Harrah's New Orleans
Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 3
2010-11 World Series of Poker Circuit - Harrah's New Orleans
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$550,060
Entries
382
Level
30
Blinds
50,000 / 75,000
Ante
15,000
The Run to the Ring
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Welcome back to Harrah's New Orleans for the culmination of the $1,600 Main Event. Ten players survived Day 2 -- one more than expected -- when the stalemate poker game was suspended around 2:00 A.M.
Courtesy of a few monster pots, Todd Wood will wield the big stack today with about 54 big blinds in the bag. He's a local boy, a 42-year-old lexicographer (yep, he edits and evaluates dictionaries for a living) who finished as the runner-up in his only other Circuit event he's ever played.
Here's how the rest of the table stacks up:
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Craig | 694,000 |
| 2 | Josh Evans | 1,159,000 |
| 3 | Matt Waxman | 460,000 |
| 4 | Bobby Toye | 882,000 |
| 5 | Jonathan Poche | 656,000 |
| 6 | Jake Bazeley | 983,000 |
| 7 | Todd Wood | 1,619,000 |
| 8 | Billie Payne | 307,000 |
| 9 | Scott Zakheim | 491,000 |
| 10 | James McBride | 395,000 |
A couple of those names are familiar to those who've been following the Circuit this season. Matt Waxman won a Main Event gold ring in Atlantic City, and there are a few players on the points bubble rooting for him to repeat here today. A win in this event would put Waxman very close to $1 million in career tournament earnings.
A couple seats to Waxman's left will sit Jake Bazeley, a young pro who has been best known as "Bazeman" crushing the online tables. He's won more than $2.5 million online, and he's cashed in about half of the WSOP-C events he's played in his short career. He's also got a few decent live scores, but he's yet to taste tournament victory in a brick-and-mortar. He begins the day in third place with just shy of a million chips.
Apart from those guys, we have a 42-year-old "man of leisure" from Texas (Lance Craig), the 76th-place finisher in the 2007 Main Event (Josh Evans), another former ring winner and the hometown favorite (Bobby Toye), a first-time final tablist (Jonathan Poche), a plumber also from Texas (Billie Payne), a New-York-turned-Florida attorney (Scott Zakheim), and a retiree from Slidell (Jim McBride). It's gonna be a good one.
Play begins in just a few minutes, so don't wander away. The table for ten is set!
Who Are You?
The players are being introduced to the spectators as we speak, and the cards will be in the air in just a moment.
Level: 27
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 4,000
Bazeley Comes Out Raising
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
Jake Bazeley has opened each of the first two pots, and the first one got through. The second time, though, his 75,000-chip open was three-bet to 165,000 by Bobby Toye. Bazeley surrendered, and he'll settle for a net profit of 10,000 chips over those first two shuffles.
Zakheim Takes a Bite
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
Scott Zakheim made it 60,000 to go from middle position, and he found one call from Lance Craig who matched the bet from the hijack seat.
The flop came 
, and both players checked to the 
turn. Zakheim checked again, and Craig fired 140,000 at the pot. Zakheim check-raised all in for 389,000, and that sent Craig into the tank. He took a couple long minutes to consider before releasing his cards into the muck.
On the third hand of the day, Zakheim takes the first big bite. He's up to 750,000 now, sliding Craig back to 475,000.
Waxman Gets Short
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
In early position, Matt Waxman raised to 60,000, and the table passed around to the short stack. From the cutoff, Billie Payne three-bet shoved for 226,000 total, and Waxman spent about three minutes in the tank before mucking his cards with a frown.
Waxman is now the shortest stack at the table with 320,000 left. Payne pips ahead of him, stacking 367,000 chips after dragging that pot.
Lance Craig Eliminated in 10th Place ($9,263)
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
Well, Lance Craig can't be faulted for getting his money in with pocket kings before the flop. It would prove to be his undoing. The pot began with him opening to 65,000, and Todd Wood three-bet to 135,000. With 
in the hole, Craig took pause before shoving all in for about 405,000. Wood snap-called, and Craig couldn't believe the sight of the 
across the felt. "The chip leader gets aces," Steve Frezer announced over the mic. "That's not fair."
It wasn't, and the 
flop was no help to Craig. He found paint on the turn, and the 
opened up another four outs for him to stay alive. He needed a jack or a king to double, but the river was another painted tease. The 
filled out the board, and Craig could not catch up.
That's the end of the road for the former software engineer from Grapevine, Texas. He'll pocket $9,263 for his efforts over the past three days, his biggest cash on record.
For Wood, it's a case of the rich getting richer. The knockout pushes him up to 2.1 million, and he's opened up quite the lead on the pack.
Payne and Gain
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
Josh Evans raised to 68,000 to start the action, and Todd Wood called from the cutoff seat. On the button, Billie Payne squeezed the last 290,000 of his chips into the middle, enough to fold Evans without incident. Wood made the call, though, and he was drawing live for the knockout.
Showdown
Wood: 
Payne: 
Payne's ace managed to hold strong as the board ran through 
. He's not going anywhere just yet, doubling up to 729,000 and knocking the chip leader down a peg. Wood is still doing just fine, though, sitting pretty with 1.9 million now.
Jim McBride Eliminated in 9th Place ($11,441)
Level 27
: 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante
Todd Wood raised to 67,000 from middle position, and Jim McBride three-bet shoved for 395,000 total. When the table passed back around to Wood, he made the call with his massive stack and a chance at the knockout. It was a flip:
McBride: 
Wood:
The 
appeared right in the window, and the 
flop was a disaster for McBride. He could not find his two-outer on the turn or 
river, and he has been eliminated in 9th place. It was his third career WSOP-C final table, and this one's good for a payday of $11,441.
Wood is up to 2.35 million now with just about a third of the chips in play.