Good afternoon and welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino for our third and final day of Event 44: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em! Today we will crown an eventual champion, however, with 16 players still vying for the title - there is still a ways to go!
Best positioned to take down the title is Thomas Conway, who bagged up 888,000 last night after taking down some large pots and scoring some knockouts toward the end of the night. Right behind Conway in chips is Nelson Robinson, who will come into Day 3 with 871,000.
Our last woman standing - Anke Berner, is looking to be yet another woman to make a World Series of Poker final table this year. Just yesterday - Jackie Glazier scored a second-place finish in Event 41: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Bener actually entered Day 2 with just 7,600 in chips and figured she would be quickly eliminated. However, she is still here and has a chance to become the first woman to win an open WSOP event since Vanessa Selbst - who won a Pot-Limit Omaha event back in 2008.
Here is the seating draw and player chip counts heading into Day 3:
Table
Seat
Player
Chips
440
1
Thomas Conway
880,000
440
2
Patrick Karschamroon
678,000
440
3
Francisco Azares
678,000
440
4
— Empty —
440
5
Jaspal Brar
551,000
440
6
Rocco Palumbo
382,000
440
7
Niel Mittelman
578,000
440
8
Darren Rabinowitz
760,000
440
9
Nelson Robinson
871,000
441
1
— Empty —
441
2
Paul Sokoloff
209,000
441
3
David Forster
437,000
441
4
Kevin Elia
503,000
441
5
Jason Everett
399,000
441
6
Travell Thomas
368,000
441
7
Keven Stammen
654,000
441
8
Anke Berner
655,000
441
9
Mario Delis
234,000
There you have it - can Conway use his chip advantage to propel himself to the final table and claim victory? Will Berner accomplish what the other ladies could not and claim a bracelet this year? Or will another one of our 16 players - such as 2009 bracelet-winner Kevin Stammen - take home the gold?
Stay tuned and be sure to follow the action right here at PokerNews as the drama unfolds and we crown an eventual champion!
In a hand that would cripple Keven Stammen, Kevin Elia opened to 34,000 from under-the-gun and action folded around to Stammen in the hijack, who three-bet to 80,000. It was folded back around to Elia, who made it 150,000 on top. Stammen fall hard into the tank, and, after a couple minutes, Elia called the clock on him. A tournament director came over and have Stammen 70 seconds to act on his hand.
After a little more deliberation, Stammen announced he was all in and Elia snap-called all in for 491,000.
Stammen:
Elia:
Ouch.
The board ran out and Elia doubled through Stammen, leaving him with just 90,000 behind.
In the very next hand, Stammen open-pushed all in and action folded around to David Forster, who went all in himself to put Stammen at risk.
Forster:
Stammen:
The board left Stammen second-best and he was eliminated.
Mario Delis open-pushed all in for his last 90,000 from early position and action folded around to David Forster in the cutoff, who re-raised to isolate Delis. Everyone else got out of the way and hands were revealed.
Delis:
Forster:
The board ran out and Delis was sent to the rail in 15th.
Paul Sokoloff's last hand of the tournament began when Thomas Conway opened up the pot to 40,000. Sokoloff then three-bet shoved on the button and it was on David Forster in the small blind. He made the call and the action was sent back around to Conway.
Around one minute passed as Conway decided what to do. Eventually Forster called the clock on Conway and he was given 60 more seconds to act. Conway opted to fold and Sokoloff tabled his , well behind the of Forster. At this point, Conway told the table he folded ace-king.
Sokoloff would need some help to survive and it was help that would never come as the board saw Forster's hand hold up to send Sokoloff home in 14th place. A great effort as Sokoloff adds this result to his third-place finish in Event 32: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E from just a few days ago.
Darren Rabinowitz opened from the hijack position and it was folded around to Jaspal Brar in the big blind, who went all in for his last 160,000. Rabinowitz peaked back at his cards and made the call to put Brar at risk.
Rabinowitz:
Brar:
Brar was dominated and would need help going to the flop, however, the board kept Rabinowitz in front and Brar was sent to the rail.
Travell Thomas was sitting behind a short stack from much of the last coupld of levels and finally got his stack all-in preflop holding and coming up against Jason Everett's .
Thomas was looking good to double up, but the board had other ideas, giving Everett the full house and enough to eliminate Thomas in 12th place.
With that, we are one player away from our "unofficial" final table of ten.
It was folded around to Francisco Azares in the small blind, who announced he was all in for his last 300,000. Rocco Palumbo asked for a count from the big blind and made the call to put Palumbo at risk.
Azares:
Palumbo:
Azares was in good shape to double up, however the board ran out ....., giving Palumbo a winning king on the river for the knockout blow.
Azares will take home $26,727 for his efforts today.
By the time we had walked over to the ESPN feature table, Darren Rabinowitz had all his chips in the middle holding and was having to come up against Kevin Elia's . It was apparently the very first hand of play over here.
The board was devastating to Robinowitz, with the turn sending him home as the official final table bubble boy, while Elia raked in the massive pot.
Our first elimination of the final table has just occurred, with David Forster the man to be sent home. It all started when the action was folded around to Rocco Palumbo in the cutoff. He opened it up to 48,000. Forster was directly on his left on the button and three-bet to 105,000. With the play folded back around to Palumbo, he took a few moments before announcing the all in. Forster shrugged and said, "I call."
Forster:
Palumbo:
Forster would need plenty of help and while the turn card on a board gave him a sweat for the straight, the river was no help and Forster was sent home.
The last hand Patrick Karschamroon's tournament began when Thomas Conway opened the pot to 52,000. Jason Everett then three-bet to 112,000 and it was on Karschamroon who shoved all in for just over 300,000. Conway got out of the way and Everett snapped off the call.
Karschamroon:
Everett:
By the time the turn had run out on a board, Karschamroon was looking for the lone eight of clubs to survive. The wasn't what he was looking for and Karschamroon was sent home in eighth place.
and Elia doubled through Stammen, leaving him with just 90,000 behind.
and Delis was sent to the rail in 15th.
![[user162117]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board saw Forster's hand hold up to send Sokoloff home in 14th place. A great effort as Sokoloff adds this result to his 
board kept Rabinowitz in front and Brar was sent to the rail.
and coming up against Jason Everett's 
.....
board was devastating to Robinowitz, with the turn sending him home as the official final table bubble boy, while Elia raked in the massive pot.
