Final Table Set with McNamara and Tran in the Lead
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A very short Day 3 is in the books now as the 30 returning players were whittled to nine in under five levels. JD McNamara started as one of the shorter stacks with 230,000 but ran hot, played aggressively, and surged into the chip lead by the end of the day. He brings nearly 2.4 million with him to the final table. Thanh dat Tran started the day in the middle of the pack and chipped up to finish the day just behind McNamara.
Christophe Benzimra, who won EPT Warsaw last October, started the day as one of the shortest stacks and couldn't get anything going. He was eliminated in 27th place. Joseph Grenon began the day at the opposite end of the counts but fell from chip leader to out very quickly. He ran jacks into aces to finish in 23rd place. Holger Kanisch, who finished second to Sandra Naujoks at EPT Dortmund in 2009, didn't make it quite as deep here. He was sent packing in 21st. Bulgarian hotshot Yordan Mitrentsov followed soon after in 19th place.
A few speedy eliminations left the group with 11 players at the dinner break, and they left no time in busting Anthony Damore in 11th place. Alexis Belanger-Lebel was one of the larger stacks returning from dinner but made a painful mistake, losing nearly all of his chips when he failed to notice another player had moved all in in front of him. Belanger-Lebel was eliminated soon after in 10th place, setting the official final table. The players will sit down to the following seats and stacks when they resume their quest for the title:
Seat 1: Blake Kelso - 1,166,000
Seat 2: JD McNamara - 2,393,000
Seat 3: Thanh dat Tran - 2,311,000
Seat 4: Greg Pohler - 1,660,000
Seat 5: David Cai - 844,000
Seat 6: Michael Gross - 535,000
Seat 7: Denis Murphy - 789,999
Seat 8: Jeffrey Tebben - 466,000
Seat 9: John Tolbert - 925,000
With nine fresh faces earning a spot around WSOP final-table felt, we'll crown a brand new bracelet winner in eight short eliminations. Which one of these players will make his mark? Tune in Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. to find out along with us.