Johannes Becker raised to 55,000 in the hijack and Dan Smith moved all in from the small blind for a bit under 500,000. Becker made the call to put Smith at risk.
Dan Smith:
Johannes Becker:
The board came , bringing no help to Smith who becomes the first elimination in the money.
Matthew Gonzales completed and then called the all-in of Scott Bohlman on third street for 160,000 total. Both somehow ended up with two pair until fifth sixth street and Gonzales then hit an ace on seventh to make a ten-seven.
Bohlman glanced at his card, had a dry smile on the face and exposed the case as he made a full house ... in Razz, ending his tournament in 16th place for a payday of $83,738.
Koray Aldemir defended his bring-in to David "ODB" Baker's completion from his short stack.
On fourth street, Aldemir took the betting lead and Baker called.
Fifth street saw things get worse for Baker as he picked up another paint card, while Aldemir got a . Aldemir bet again and with just 170,000 left, Baker opted to continue on.
Sixth street paired Aldemir, and Baker's king wasn't exactly a help either, but he committed the last of his chips. Unfortunately for him, he was already drawing dead to Aldemir's jack low which improved to a nine on seventh street
After Daniel Weinman raised to 70,000 from the button and Matthew Gonzales called in the small blind, Ap Garza moved all in from the big blind for 565,000.
Weinman thought briefly, then called, sending Gonzales into the tank.
Gonzales verbally deliberated his decision, chatting with his potential opponents, then referencing his earlier comment to the PokerNews reporting team said, "I dunno if I can f***," eliciting a laugh from his tablemates.
After a couple more minutes, Gonzales settled on a fold, leaving Weinman to try to eliminate Garza.
Ap Garza:
Daniel Weinman:
The flop came , putting Garza in the lead. On the turn, Garza grabbed his bag and started walking away from the table, not realizing he had a winning king-high straight. As the dealer put the on the river, his tablemates told Garza that he had won with a Broadway straight.
"Oh s***, I just saw the eights and his straight," said Garza as he sat back down to gather his now very healthy stack, which at one point was under a single big blind and is now over a million again.
Lou Garza completed and then called the raise by Bryce Yockey with a grin and "guess I gotta give you action after that". Yockey replied with a "you don't have to, I prefer to take it right here" but they headed to fourth street on which Yockey bet and had 40,000 behind.
Garza called and Yockey bet all-in in the dark to receive the call for all cards until then to get revealed.
Yockey was ahead with his high-card but Garza gained tons of equity on sixth with the four-card straight.
"Should I go first?" Garza asked and he then agreed with Yockey to flip over the last card at the exact same time. Garza nailed the straight and Yockey's pair of aces went down in flames as he was ousted in 14th place for $100,866.
The money bubble has burst and 13 players out of an 112-entry strong field remain in contention in Event #56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship. Widely considered as the crown jewel of the schedule for mixed game players in the 2022 World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas, the first portion of the $5,362,000 prize pool has already been paid out.
As one may expect, the remaining contenders for the high-stakes mixed game contest includes some of the biggest names in the world of poker. Ten of the final 13 hopefuls already have a WSOP title to their name and the defending champion Dan Cates sits in second place with a stack of 4,995,000. He only trails Brazilian poker prodigy Yuri Dzivielevski on the leaderboard, who advanced with 5,645,000 in chips and seeks to add a third WSOP gold bracelet for his already stellar resume.
Perhaps an unlikely name to still be in contention after Day 3 in this very event is the defending 2021 WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir. He has been occasionally playing mixed games at the start of his poker career and also took lessons from fellow German and mixed game specialist Johannes Becker. Aldemir sits in fifth place on the leaderboard with 3,205,000 after he lost a showdown pot to Becker in the final stages of the night with his fellow compatriot bagging up 3,990,000.
Final 13 Players After Day 3 in Event #56: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Bets
1
Yuri Dzivielevski
Brazil
5,645,000
35
2
Dan Cates
United States
4,995,000
31
3
Johannes Becker
Germany
3,990,000
25
4
Taylor Paur
United States
3,290,000
21
5
Koray Aldemir
Germany
3,205,000
20
6
Naoya Kihara
Japan
2,830,000
18
7
Matthew Ashton
United Kingdom
2,250,000
14
8
Daniel Weinman
United States
1,805,000
11
9
Lou Garza
United States
1,660,000
10
10
Benny Glaser
United Kingdom
1,210,000
8
11
Matthew Gonzales
United States
985,000
6
12
Philip Sternheimer
United Kingdom
940,000
6
13
John Racener
United States
370,000
2
Besides defending champion Cates, another former winner of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship is still in the mix and may become the third player to win the live poker's versatility test more than once. The 2013 winner Matthew Ashton sits in the middle of the pack with a stack of 2,250,000, good enough for seventh place on the leaderboard.
Among the four players to secure a cash prize already were Dan Smith, Scott Bohlman, David "ODB" Baker, and Bryce Yockey. The latter fell victim to a very late surge by Lou Garza, who was down to fewer than one big blind in the final level of the night only to double up three times. Two of these double-ups came at the expense of Yockey in 2-7 Triple Draw and he then rivered a straight in Seven Card Stud to finish the job he had started by sending Yockey out in 14th place.
Many other big names saw their hopes vanish throughout the six levels of 100 minutes each. In a field filled with superstars, the list of casualties reads like the who-is-who of the international poker scene. Among them were for instance ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey, 2007 PPC champion Freddy Deeb, French mixed game specialist Julien Martini, Anthony Zinno, and the three-time PPC winner Michael Mizrachi.
Deeb came up short with an ace against the pocket tens of Cates while Seiver lost numerous clashes with Baker and his fate was sealed by the day's arch nemesis. Mizrachi missed the chance at an unprecedented fourth title in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship when he came up short in a battle of the short stacks with Adam Friedman.
Jean-Robert Bellande, Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Stephen Chidwick, and Erik Seidel were also among those to miss out on the money bubble and Friedman came up short as well after he lost most of the chips in a remarkable Stud hand against Garza.
It wouldn't take long for the money bubble burst soon after with the elimination of Maxx Coleman in a NLHE coin flip in the penultimate level of the night. The final stages then reduced the field to the last 13 contenders. They will be back at 2:00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, June 29, 2022 and take their seats on the feature tables of the Bally's Event Center.
The penultimate tournament day will whittle down the field to the last five hopefuls for the live-stream on the PokerGO platform. Stay tuned for the conclusion of the mixed game contest of the year right here on PokerNews.