Level: 24
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 4,000
2010 World Series of Poker
Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$3,910,500
Entries
4,345
Level
33
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
30,000
Matthew Wilkins Eliminated in 17th Place ($24,675)
![[user4144]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Amid the tension that comes with there being just two tables remaining, we've lost short-stacker Matthew Wilkins who pushed all in from middle position for a total of 182,000. All but one stepped aside, Ashira Lavine looking him up with 
. Wilkins could only muster 
.
The 
flop looked clinical, but hope glimmered on the 
turn as Wilkins was blessed with both a flush and inside straight draw. However, neither arrived on a blank 
turn, and the only female player left in the event took both the pot, and the scalp. 16 remain.
Tai Nguyen Eliminated in 18th Place ($24,675)
Tai Nguyen put his short stack in from the cutoff, and got looked up by Nicholas Mitchell in the small blind. It was looking bad from the start.
Mitchell: 
Nguyen: 
Board: 
With that, 18 became 17. Mitchell, who had dropped a few chips shortly before this hand, moved back up to 690,000.
Relief for Degreef
Jeremiah Degreef, as we mentioned a little while ago down to just a few grains, threw them in from the button and picked up a caller in form of the slightly less short-stacked Tai Nguyen.
To showdown!
Degreef: 
Tai Nguyen: 
Board: a very decisive 
Degreef made a full house by the turn, and doubled to 310,000. The stacks now reversed, Nguyen is our official short stack on just 150,000.
Brown Pushes Mitchell Off
Nicholas Mitchell raised to 55,000 in early position and Cory Brown called to his immediate left. Everyone else passed, and they were heads up to the flop.
Flop: 
Both players presumably liked the look of that, as Mitchell bet out 62,000, and then called the raise to 150,000 from Brown. There was nothing for it but to see a turn.
Turn: , putting, obviously, two tens on the board.
This time Mitchell checked. Brown however bet a means-business 210,000, and Mitchell finally gave it up.
Brown's stack increased to 1,020,000 as a result of that. Mitchell's dropped to 725,000.
No Nearer for Ashira
This post-prandial poker session is not going terribly well for last woman standing Ashira Lavine.
The next hand after losing that big pot to Dmitry Gromov she raised to 60,000 in the cutoff, but Sam Paolini made it 159,000 from the button and she sighed and folded.
The hand after that, Lavine limped in the hijack and then called the raise to 65,000 from Paolini, now in the cutoff, but was pushed off by a bet from Paolini on the 
flop.
"Go Sammy!" cried a pro-Paolini railer. Lavine headed off for a pep talk from her own supporters at the rail.
Degreef Down to a Bowl of Rice
If it's been quiet on the feature table, then it's been anything but on the outer table, mainly thanks to Jeremiah Degreef who found himself involved in two key hands. On the first, he came over the top of Richard Rice's open to 86,000, only for Degreef to move all in for a total of 350,000 from the small blind. Rice made the call with 
, but was not happy to see Degreef table 
. He needn't have worried, though, as the board came a clinical 
to double him up to 755,000, and send Degreef hurtling down to 80,000.
Moments later, Degreef moved his bowl of rice in with , only to be given a spin by Eric Baldwin's in the big blind. The board came 
to keep him alive at 190,000 and drop Baldwin down a notch or two to 700,000.
Mustn't Gromble
Ashira Lavine has taken a bit of a hit after getting involved with Dmitry Gromov in a blind-on-blind encounter.
The flop read 
by the time our interest was piqued, and Gromov (small blind) was betting out 30,000. Lavine (big blind) raised to 90,000, only for Gromov to three-bet to 190,000. Lavine silently called, and they proceeded.
Both players checked the turn, and Gromov checked the 
river too. Lavine stared open-mouthed and frozen at the board for some time, before turning her attention first to assessing Gromov's stack (around 350,000), and then to stacking and restacking parts of her own (also at roughly 350,000).
Lavine looked as though she was seriously considering a bet of some sort, but ultimately she checked. Gromov flipped for a pair of eights, and Lavine briefly checked her own hole cards before throwing them in the muck.
Fuller Stomachs
Play has certainly slowed down since the dinner break, fuller stomachs perhaps making players more lethargic in their play. Either way, each decision is being carefully dissected and every move is meticulously made, thus making for a pretty slow game.
The last encounter I saw involved Isaac Settle and Josh Roberts, Roberts raising to 74,000 from middle position. Settle, who'd made a rare limp from early position, made the call, leading to a flop of .
With Settle checking in the dark, the decision lay on Roberts, who requested a count before slowly separating 74,000 from one of four giant columns and trickling the chips over the line. Settle seemed tempted, but he eventually opted for the fold, and the next hand was dealt.
Last Two Tables Return
Cards are back in the air now that the dinner break is over. If they drop to nine soon, our players will proceed to the final table this evening; otherwise they'll be coming back tomorrow to finish it off. With the average stack now at around 30 big blinds, it could go either way.