Welcome back to Day 3 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker. There are 62 players remaining from the starting field of 108 players. Topping the bunch is Andy Bloch with 687,000 in chips, who was his first WSOP gold bracelet this year in Event 7: $1,500 Seven Card Stud.
Rounding out the top five stacks are Abe Mosseri, John Monnette, Michael Cassidy and Joe Cassidy. Mosseri won a massive pot at the end of the night on Day 2 in a very controversial situation. Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 of that situation in order to get up to speed on everything.
Others remaining include Phil Iveu, Jason Mercier, Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Matt Glantz, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Robert Mizrachi, Brunson Fitoussi and Allen Bari. You can't forget about Brian Rast, either. He's the defending champion of this event and is still very much alive to defend his title.
Play is scheduled to kick off at 2:00 PM and another five levels are on the slate. Stay tuned for all of the action coming straight to you from PokerNews.
Matt Hawrilenko, who's also known as HOSS_TBF online, is one of the biggest winners in Limit Hold'em. Unfortunately he just got eliminated in that game, bringing the field down to 62.
Lyle Berman kicked off the action by raising under the gun and Antony Lellouche three-bet from late-position. Hawrilenko was in the big blind, and he four-bet all in. Berman folded his cards and Lellouche made the call.
Hawrilenko tabled , and he was in a coin-flip situation against Lellouche's . The board ran out , giving Lellouche a straight and knocking out Hawrilenko.
We just lost Brian Hastings is a massive No-Limit Hold'em pot which gave Andy Bloch an ever bigger chip lead.
The flop read , and Bloch check-called a 13,000 chip bet. The turn was the and now Bloch check-called 42,000. On the river the hit, completing a possible back-door flush.
Bloch checked a third time, and Hastings fired out a hefty 125,000 chip bet. Bloch moved all in, and Hastings tanked for about two minutes before calling of his final 96,000 chips.
At the showdown, Bloch tabled the for the nut flush and Hastings was eliminated, mucking his hand without showing.
On his Twitter page, we later saw this Tweet from Hastings:
brianchastings Brian HastingsBusto lost 700k+ NLH pot to Andy Bloch with turned nut straight vs backdoor nut flush. Couldn't find a fold to river c/r getting 5-1 #wsop45June 26 2012
Barry Greenstein raised all in from the hijack for his final 22,700, and Viktor Blom called in the cutoff. David Baker was in the big blind, and he decided to move all in for 108,900. Blom called once again putting two players at risk of elimination.
Greenstein showed , and he was dominated by Blom's . Baker was the one out in front though, as he showed .
The board ran out , and Baker took down the entire pot. Baker more than doubled up, Greenstein is out while Blom is still in good shape.
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi raised to 8,500 from early position and David Benyamine reraised to 30,000 from the hijack seat. In the cutoff position, Jeff Lisandro reraised the pot. Action folded back to Mizrachi and he gave it up. Benyamine called all in for around 80,000 and the hands were tabled.
Lisandro:
Benyamine:
The flop, turn and river ran out to give Lisandro the pot and send Benyamine out the door. Mizrachi said he folded hearts.
On the next hand, Lisandro limped in from late position and David Grey raised to 18,000 on the button. Lisandro called and the flop came down .
On the flop, Lisandro bet the pot to put Grey all in. Grey called off his last 25,000 with the . Lisandro held the .
The turn was the and gave Lisandro a straight to the nine. The river was the and completed the board. Lisandro busted Grey and eliminated a player for the second hand in a row to move over 600,000 in chips.
Defending champion Brian Rast was all in preflop and up against Ben Yu. Rast had only turned over three of his cards to show the . Yu had the .
The board ran out and Yu had a pair of kings with an ace kicker for high with the nut low. Rast didn't look at his fourth card until the river, but found nothing he could use to get any of the pot and claimed it was a jack. Yu scooped the pot and sent the defending champion out the door.
With Rast's elimination, it is now guaranteed there will be no back-to-back winner of this event, although previous champion Micahel "The Grinder" Mizrachi still remains.
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.
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.
, and he was in a coin-flip situation against Lellouche's 
. The board ran out 
, giving Lellouche a straight and knocking out Hawrilenko.
and now Bloch check-called 42,000. On the river the 
hit, completing a possible back-door flush.
for the nut flush and Hastings was eliminated, mucking his hand without showing.
, and he was dominated by Blom's 
to give Lisandro the pot and send Benyamine out the door. Mizrachi said he folded hearts.
.
.
and completed the board. Lisandro busted Grey and eliminated a player for the second hand in a row to move over 600,000 in chips.
. Yu had the 
.
