More than 400 players have been eliminated in the first level of the day and the clocks show 2,398 hopefuls remaining at the completion of level 11. They have been sent on a 30-minute break in which the T-100 chips will be colored up.
Here’s a look at some recent highlights from play:
A bigger pot was brewing to the turn and Faraz Jaka ended up all in and at risk for his last 58,800, Raul Morales called and both players tabled flopped sets.
With around 200,000 in the pot and the board on the felt, Igor Kurganov checked from middle position and Timothy Su fired a huge bet of 230,000 on the button.
Kurganov check-shoved for 266,300 total and Su tanked for several minutes. He eventually opted to lay his hand down. Kurganov flashed the and dragged a gigantic pot.
Matt Affleck raised to 5,500 from the late position and Randolph Present three-bet to 20,000 on the button. Action folded back to Affleck who glanced at Present and then decided to shove. Present asked for a count and the dealer confirmed Affleck held 46,800 behind. Present looked at his own stack and then made the call but shook his head when he saw Affleck's cards.
Matt Affleck:
Randolph Present:
The board ran out for Affleck to pair up on the flop to double up.
Gus Hansen has already more than quadrupled his stack during Day 3. Hansen first doubled up in a flip when his pocket sevens held against ace-ten.
Another huge addition saw him rise through the provisional standing when Gregory Kary opened to 5,200 in middle position and Hansen flatted in the cutoff. Todd Comeens squeezed to 21,700 out of the small blind and Kary called. Hansen thought about the situation for a while and then he decided to join them to the flop.
It fell and Comeens didn't waste a second before pushing forward his remaining 165,000 or so. Kary quickly folded but Hansen said, "Alright," and flicked in a chip.
Comeens had but Hansen was ahead with . The rest of the board ran out and and Hansen eliminated Comeens, improving to 425,000.
Paul Volpe raised to 5,100 from mid-position and Geffrey Klein three-bet to 18,500 from the hijack. Action folded back to Volpe who tanked for a while. In the end, Volpe shoved with the bigger stack and Klein took a few seconds before making the call.
Geffrey Klein:
Paul Volpe:
The board ran out for Volpe to hold with the bigger pocket pair to eliminate Klein during the first few minutes of Day 3.
Over the course of three starting days, as well as two Day 2's, the second-largest World Series of Poker Main Event field has been whittled down from 8,569 players total to 2,880. For the first time, all players will join together to create one big field, spread across the Amazon, Brasilia, and Pavilion tournament rooms of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Combining All Players
With 1,334 players on Day 1a, 1,914 on Day 1b, and 4,877 on Day 1c, the 2019 Main Event was already the second-biggest Main Event in the tournament's history. With another 100 late registrants on Day 2ab and a massive 344 extra players on Day 2c, that position was only amplified. Here's a look at the players and survivors so far:
Day
Players Starting
Players Late Regging
Players Total for Day
Players Total Cumulative
Players Surviving
1a
1,334
-
1,334
1,334
962
1b
1,914
-
1,914
3,248
1,421
1c
4,877
-
4,877
8,125
3,664
2ab
2,383
100
2,483
8,225
1,087
2c
3,664
344
4,008
8,569
1,793
3
2,880
-
2,880
8,569
TBD
Day 3 Schedule
Play gets underway at noon local time, with blinds at 1,200/2,400 with a 2,400 big blind ante. Another 5 levels are scheduled, each of them lasting 120 minutes. There's a 20-minute break after each level along with a 60-minute dinner break after level 12, which should be around 4.20 p.m.
Level
Duration
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
11
120 minutes
1,200
2,400
2,400
20-minute break
12
120 minutes
1,500
3,000
3,000
60-minute dinner break
13
120 minutes
2,000
4,000
4,000
20-minute break
14
120 minutes
2,500
5,000
5,000
20-minute break
15
120 minutes
3,000
6,000
6,000
Payouts
While the new WSOP Main Event champion will not be crowned until July 16th, the first monetary rewards are looming. Last year, an elongated bubble phase on Day 3 lasted until the last hand of the evening, guaranteeing all remaining players $15,000 on bagging. The same $15,000 awaits 1,286 players this year, but with the second-largest field ever, the money might not be reached tonight, bursting on Day 4 in the early stages instead.
Place
Payout
Place
Payout
Place
Payout
Place
Payout
1
$10,000,000
10-11
$800,000
64-72
$117,710
415-477
$30,780
2
$6,000,000
12-13
$600,000
73-81
$98,120
478-540
$27,390
3
$4,000,000
14-15
$500,000
82-90
$82,365
541-603
$24,560
4
$3,000,000
16-18
$400,000
91-99
$69,636
604-666
$22,190
5
$2,200,000
19-27
$324,650
100-162
$59,295
667-765
$20,200
6
$1,850,000
28-36
$261,430
163-225
$50,855
766-864
$18,535
7
$1,525,000
37-45
$211,945
226-288
$43,935
865-963
$17,135
8
$1,250,000
46-54
$173,015
289-351
$38,240
964-1062
$15,970
9
$1,000,000
55-63
$142,215
352-414
$34,845
1063-1286
$15,000
Big Stacks
Leading the way after two days is Julian Milliard, who bagged 947,900 last night, an incredible feat since he started Day 2c with around twenty big blinds.
"I've had two crazy days," said Milliard after bagging Day 2c. "On Day 1, I was down to 4,000 chips and tripled with ace-nine vs ace-jack, and started today with 16,000. I then had ace-nine beat pocket tens and ran it up from there!"
Following closely behind Milliard is Vlastimil Pustina who also bagged close to 1 million chips with (930,700). According to Pustina, last year he busted about an hour before the bubble. Now attending his third World Series of Poker, he's determined to make a deep run after studying with a poker coach, staying active, meditating and - according to him - running good!
Pustina says a key hand from today was where he flopped top set against two pair to double up to around 160,000. Then, close to the end of the night, he got it in with a straight against top pair for a pot of over 600,000 chips.
Both Milliard and Pustina bagged close to 1 million chips but still have plenty of work to do as close competition is right on their tails with Andrew Brokos (895,400), Aleksa Pavicevic (867,700) and Nai Hu (798,300) rounding out the top five after two days of playing.
Many Notables Still Going Strong
Bracelet winner Galen Hall (705,900) finds himself in good position to make a deep run in the 2019 Main Event. He's joined by such familiar faces as Tom Cannuli (667,000), Anthony Spinella (643,700), Brian Yoon (643,400), 2016 Main Event Champion Qui Nguyen (602,400), Kathy Liebert (555,000), Adam Friedman (549,600), Sam Greenwood (535,800), Jeff Madsen (488,600), Andre Akkari (467,400) Jeff Lisandro (466,400), Brandon Cantu (464,500) Asi Moshe (464,100), Calvin Anderson (459,400), Andres Korn (447,400), Barny Boatman (445,000, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (428,200), David "ODB" Baker (418,700), and Cliff Josephy (402,00).
Team 888poker is still represented strong, some of their top stacks outside of Greenwood include Mikhail Sokolovskiy (395,200), Kyriakos Papadopouluos (351,400), Patrice Brandt (298,500), Vitor Dzivielevski (266,600), and Richard Kellett (250,100).
Defending Champion John Cynn had a strong showing on Day 2c and wields a stack of 248,900. Former Main Event Champions still in the hunt for another title are 1993 Main Event Champion Jim Bechtel (251,600), 1987 and 1988 Main Event Champion Johnny Chan (232,500), 2017 Main Event Champion Scott Blumstein (229,700), 2005 Main Event Champion Joe Hachem (57,00), 2003 Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker (56,000), 2000 Main Event Champion Chris Ferguson (58,300), 1998 Main Event Champion Scotty Nguyen (17,500), and the aformentioned Qui Nguyen (602,400).
PokerNews will have an all-star team present, bringing live updates from the tournament floor. Live streaming of this event will take place on ESPN2 (7 p.m. - 11 p.m.). Streaming on PokerGO runs from 6-7 p.m. and 11-12:40 a.m. Make sure to check back regularly and don't miss anything as the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event rolls on!