Event 45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Day 3 Completed
2012 World Series of Poker
Event 45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 World Series of Poker
Buy-in
$50,000
Entries
108
Level
22
Blinds
0 / 0
Ante
0
Blom Spikes One-Outer To Steal End-of-Day Chip Lead
Level 15
Day 3 of Event 45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship has come to a close after the third batch of five levels was played out. At the end of the night, 26 competitors bagged and tagged their chips to return for Wednesday's Day 4.
Entering the day, 62 players remained with Andy Bloch leading the way. Bloch kept himself at the top of the pack for most of the day, but slid towards the end of the night before wrapping up with 667,000. Bloch earned his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet earlier this year in Event 7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud.
The day came with plenty of action, but it didn't involve any controversy like last night did (see Part 1 and Part 2). Still, the situation from last night was on a lot of players' minds and it was discussed often throughout the day.
Plenty of notables hit the rail during Day 3, including Matt Hawrilenko, Brian Hastings, Scott Clements, David Benyamine, Jason Mercier and defending champion Brian Rast. Rast was eliminated in a hand against Ben Yu. Joining them on the rail was Matt Glantz, Patrik Antonius and Huck Seed.
On top of the pack at the end of the night was Viktor Blom, but it took a miracle for him to get there. Blom robbed Joe Cassidy of a massive pot in the last few hands of the night by smacking a one-outer on a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha. The pot was worth well over a million and Blom finished on 1.262 million.
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi will be returning to play on Wednesday as he's still in contention along with his brother Robert Mizrachi. If you remember back to 2010, the year Michael won the event, his brother Robert also made the final table. Those two could be in line for another joint final table here in 2012.
Play is scheduled to resume at 2:00 PM PT on Wednesday and it's going to be extra fun with the money bubble popping for sure. PokerNews will have all of the live coverage from the floor and we hope to have you joining us. Until then, enjoy the rest of our coverage from the 2012 WSOP.
Day 4 Seating Assignments and Chip Counts
Level 15
It is expected that the tables will be balanced right at the start of play because Table 445 has five players and each of the rest each has seven.
| Table | Seat | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 445 | 1 | Robert Mizrachi | 252,000 |
| 445 | 2 | Mike Wattel | 870,000 |
| 445 | 3 | --empty-- | -- |
| 445 | 4 | --empty-- | -- |
| 445 | 5 | David Chiu | 160,000 |
| 445 | 6 | John Hennigan | 992,000 |
| 445 | 7 | Chris Klodnicki | 858,000 |
| 445 | 8 | --empty-- | -- |
| 446 | 1 | Jeff Lisandro | 204,000 |
| 446 | 2 | Bruno Fitoussi | 861,000 |
| 446 | 3 | David Baker | 1,025,000 |
| 446 | 4 | Bill Chen | 984,000 |
| 446 | 5 | Stephen Chidwick | 874,000 |
| 446 | 6 | Michael Glick | 71,000 |
| 446 | 7 | Phil Ivey | 397,000 |
| 446 | 8 | --empty-- | -- |
| 447 | 1 | Roland Israelashvili | 570,000 |
| 447 | 2 | Viktor Blom | 1,262,000 |
| 447 | 3 | Antony Lellouche | 447,000 |
| 447 | 4 | Andy Bloch | 667,000 |
| 447 | 5 | John Monnette | 586,000 |
| 447 | 6 | Luke Schwartz | 500,000 |
| 447 | 7 | Ben Yu | 653,000 |
| 447 | 8 | --empty-- | -- |
| 449 | 1 | Joe Cassidy | 141,000 |
| 449 | 2 | Brett Richey | 256,000 |
| 449 | 3 | Daniel Alaei | 1,058,000 |
| 449 | 4 | Lyle Berman | 660,000 |
| 449 | 5 | David Oppenheim | 1,165,000 |
| 449 | 6 | Michael Mizrachi | 632,000 |
| 449 | 7 | Phil Hellmuth | 28,000 |
| 449 | 8 | --empty-- | -- |
Official End-of-Day Chip Counts
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,262,000 | 52,000 |
|
1,165,000 | 35,000 |
|
1,058,000 | 108,000 |
|
1,025,000 | 37,000 |
|
992,000 | 322,000 |
|
984,000 | 199,000 |
|
874,000 | -38,000 |
|
870,000 | -12,000 |
|
861,000 | -159,000 |
|
858,000 | 23,000 |
|
667,000 | 79,000 |
|
660,000 | 30,000 |
|
653,000 | -53,000 |
|
632,000 | -2,000 |
|
586,000 | -124,000 |
|
570,000 | 246,000 |
|
500,000 | -160,000 |
|
447,000 | 27,000 |
|
397,000 | -48,000 |
|
256,000 | 13,000 |
|
252,000 | 27,000 |
|
204,000 | -146,000 |
|
160,000 | 35,000 |
|
141,000 | 91,000 |
|
71,000 | -129,000 |
Blom Smashes One-Outer Against Cassidy
As if we thought we'd get through the night without anyting crazy happening...
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" said Joe Cassidy over and over after springing from his chair, with his hands clenched tight to his head as if he was holding his baseball cap on for dear life in a windstorm.
Viktor Blom also shot out of his chair, but was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. He was all smiles and giddy. He walked over to the table next to his, reached across between Phil Hellmuth and David Oppenheim to Luke Schwartz on the other side of the table, gave him a big high five.
When Blom smacked Schwartz's hand, he said, "One-outer, baby!" Schwartz smiled and congratulated him.
Cassidy was still pacing back and forth with his hands on his head and here's what happened.
Pot-Limit Omaha
Cassidy and Blom were in action on the 
flop and Cassidy was first to act. He checked and his Swedish counterpart fired a bet of 38,000. Cassidy raised and made it 138,000 to go. Blom called.
The 
hit the turn and Cassidy potted it for 485,000. Blom called and was all in. Blom held the 
for a set of nines. Cassidy held the 
for a set of tens.
The river nailed the 
and gave Blom a miracle one-outer. He srpung from his chair in shock and excitement. Cassidy sprung from his chair in the opposite manner, but just as shocked.
With that pot, Blom moved up over one million in chips while Cassidy was crushed down to just about 50,000 in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,210,000 | 670,000 |
|
|
50,000 | -689,000 |
Hellmuth Doubles
Pot-Limit Omaha
Phil Hellmuth limped in from the hijack for 8,000, leaving 8,000 behind. Action folded to Luke Schwartz in the big blind and he raised, leading to Hellmuth calling all in.
Hellmuth: 
Schwartz: 
The board rolled out 
, giving Hellmuth sevens and deuces to get the much needed double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
36,000 | 9,000 |
A Slow Night?
Level 15
Not a chance! Viktor Blom just hit a one-outer on Joe Cassidy in order to take the chip lead! Updates will follow shortly.
Ben Yu Unbusto!
Pot-Limit Omaha
For a second it seemed like Ben Yu didn't make the fourth day of play, but then everything changed. Here's a look at his two Tweets about the hand he just played against Michael Mizrachi.
professorben Ben Yu Busto QJT8 on on T93 vs. GRinder 4332 for 600k pot in PLO. Turn 4, river 6.
June 27 2012
professorben Ben Yu Just kidding, river SEVENNNNNNNN. 706k UNBUSTOOOOOOOOO!
June 27 2012
The flop read 
and Michael Mizrachi bet 60,000 after which Ben Yu raised pot. Mizrachi re-potted and Yu called all in for 309,000 total. This created the following showdown.
| Michael Mizrachi |    |
| Ben Yu |   |
The turn was the 
and the river the giving Yu a straight and the double up. Yu is far from busto and above average as we head into the fourth day of play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
706,000 | 462,000 |
|
|
634,000 | -356,000 |
Six More Hands
Level 15
The tournament staff has just announced that each table will play six more hands before bagging and tagging for the night.
Hellmuth with Less Than One Big Bet
Razz
Phil Hellmuth has been getting severely short on chips, and has dropped even further after this last action.
Hellmuth completed the bet on third with a 
up. Lyle Berman raised with an 
up and action got back to Hellmuth. He folded and left himself with just 27,000 in chips. That's less than one big bet.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
27,000 | -33,000 |