Lucinda Martinez opened the pot to 21,500 and Russell Crane three-bet jammed all-in for 109,500 from the blinds.
Martinez went into the tank for over four minutes before the clock was called on her. Eventually the minute she had been given ticked down to leave just 20 seconds remaining, and with that, Martinez called.
Crane:
Martinez:
The board ran out to see Crane eliminated from the tournament as Martinez moves to roughly 410,000 in chips.
David Benefield check-raised a bet from Rep Porter to 33,000 on a flop. Porter made the call, and Benefield fired a second bullet of 48,000 on the turn. Porter called once more, and the river brought the . Benefield checked, and Porter checked behind him.
"Queen high," Benefield declared. Porter showed for top pair on the flop, and he took down the pot.
Sam Stein battled gamely throughout Day 3 with a below average stack, but just now found himself all in and way behind against James Mackey, and unfortunately for Stein he was eliminated.
Stein's last hand saw him risking his short stack with against Mackey's . The flop came to provide a ray of hope for Stein by pairing his nine, but the turn and river spelled the end of his Main Event run.
Beverly Lange, an event planner from outside of Austin, TX, is one of the few remaining female players left in this field. This is Lange's first World Series, and she made of point of emphasizing how much she appreciates the WSOP staff's organization and ability to keep everything running smoothly. As an event planner, she likes to see things well-run. Lange has been running well at the table as well, and is steadily accumulating chips. According to one of her tablemates, bracelet winner Larry Wright, Lange doesn't like to be pushed around, and when she's in a hand she's usually the one pushing the action. After watching Lange for awhile, we can verify that Wright has a good read on Lange, and we watched her increase her stack-size by about 20% in a few recent hands.
In the first, Lange raised under the gun to 8,000, then faced a re-raise to 16,000. She then four-bet to 25,000, and her opponent folded.
On the next hand, Lange called a bet to 8,000 from the big blind. The flop came , and both players checked. They checked again when the hit the felt on the turn, and a completed the board on the river. Lange bet out for 10,000, and elicited a call. She turned over for a wheel, and her opponent mucked.
After the hands, Lange was up to 290,000 in chips.
Since eliminating Phil Ivey during Level 14, Max Steinberg has stayed pretty quiet. He did slide down to about 930,000 before playing a recent pot, though. Phil Mader raised to 11,500 from early position and Michael Mizrachi called from middle position. Steinberg three-bet to 36,000, forcing folds all around to win the pot.
Action folded around to Marcel Luske who opened to 11,500 from the cutoff seat. He was called by the big blind and the small blind.
The flop came down and action checked to Luske who fired a bet of 18,000. The small blind called but the big blind folded.
The turn was the and after a check from the small blind, Luske slid in a hug bet of what looked to be 60,000. The player in the small blind shook his head disappointedly and mucked his hand, allowing Luske to take the pot.
From middle position, Bryn Kenney raised to 9,000. The cutoff seat called, and the flop came down . Kenney check-called a bet of 11,500 on the flop, then check-called another 24,500 after the turn.
The river was the and Kenney checked a third time. His opponent bet 42,000, and Kenney quickly called.
Kenney was shown the , then mucked his hand as he couldn't produce better. With the loss, Kenney slipped back to 276,000 in chips.
Russell Thomas raised from middle position and got a single caller in the big blind. The flop came and both checked. The turn then brought the and a bet of 11,000 from Thomas's opponent, called by Thomas.
The river was the . This time the big blind checked, and when Thomas fired 35,000 his opponent considered for a short while then let his hand go.