Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship is one of the most prestigious events on the World Series of Poker calendar. Winning the bracelet over such a talent-packed field involves navigating through numerous pitfalls and wild swings. It’s not supposed to be easy, and Danny Wong, Jason Mercier, and Phil Ivey found that out on Day 3.
Nearly 13 hours of play weren’t enough to crown a champion as the three survivors from a starting field of 149 of the biggest names in poker return tomorrow at 4 p.m. local time for an unscheduled Day 4. Wong ended the day right where he started, holding the chip lead, with 3,730,000. Mercier follows in second place with 2,955,000, and Ivey bagged up 2,260,000.
Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Wong | United States | 3,730,000 | 19 |
| 2 | Jason Mercier | United States | 2,955,000 | 15 |
| 3 | Phil Ivey | United States | 2,260,000 | 11 |
The WSOP veteran Wong first cashed in a WSOP event in 2006 and has seven live final tables on his resume, including finishing second in this event to Brian Yoon in 2021. He did win his first bracelet in a $600 No-Limit Hold’em event on WSOP.com last year and his performance over the last three days is already guaranteed to push his WSOP live earnings past $2 million.
Mercier burst onto the WSOP scene in a big way, winning five bracelets in a seven-year span from 2009-2016 and establishing himself as one of the game’s preeminent players. Then came a lengthy hiatus as he and his wife Natasha concentrated on starting a family. The now-37-year-old returned with a vengeance last year by winning the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 event for his sixth career bracelet. Another win would make him just the 10th player in WSOP history with seven and put him on a sure path toward the Poker Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.
Ivey has been recognized as arguably the top poker player in the world for nearly two decades and shows no signs of slowing down. He’s already cashed in six events so far in 2024, but his run in this event is his best chance yet of capturing a milestone bracelet that has eluded him for a decade. Ivey’s tenth bracelet came in 2014, and through several close misses and years when he skipped the WSOP altogether, his once-promising journey to running down Phil Hellmuth came to a standstill. A win tomorrow would move him alone into second place on the all-time leaderboard, breaking a tie with Johnny Chan, the late Doyle Brunson, and Erik Seidel.
Day 3 Action
Day 3 began with 13 players remaining, and it didn’t take long for the final two tables to be set. Taylor Wilson busted on the first hand of the day to Ivey’s 8-5. Tobias Leknes (12th) and Brian Tate (11th) soon followed to the payout desk.
Allen Kessler earned his 116th career WSOP cash, but his quest for a first bracelet will have to wait a little longer as he fell in tenth place to Wong’s 7-6. Steve Zolotow busted in ninth place, while Renan Bruschi couldn’t complete a draw to an 8-7 as Ivey patted a 10-7 to send the Brazilian out in eighth on the final-table bubble.
Mercier led at the start of the seven-handed final table with 1,985,000, with Ivey in second with 1,635,000. Justin Saliba entered the final table with less than 200,000 and was quickly eliminated as he was drawing to an 8-6, but Ivey already had a pat 7-6 to send him to the rail in seventh place.
Benny Glaser made an eight in a massive pot to leave Jonathan Cohen short, while Philip Sternheimer was left with just three big bets after giving up a pot to Mercier. Sternheimer was eliminated in sixth place as Glaser scooped a three-way pot with an 8-6. Cohen and his dog Riley followed to the exit soon after against Mercier.
More than six hours then elapsed without an elimination as the final four players took their seats around the main feature stage for the start of the PokerGO livestream. Wong started at the bottom of the counts with just 550,000, while Mercier built up a commanding lead with 4,165,000. Glaser was in second place, but nothing went right for the defending champion, including having his dealt 8-5 perfect go down to Wong’s 7-6 in a massive pot that catapulted Wong from short stack into the chip lead and left Glaser with just 300,000. Glaser managed to triple up once but then patted 8-6-5-3-2, only for Wong to make 8-6-4-3-2 and send him to the rail in fourth place.
Ivey fell to a short stack repeatedly during three-handed action but tripled up twice to get back into contention. Wong seized the chip lead from Mercier in the final moments of the day before play was halted with the clock moving past 2 a.m. local time.
Final Table payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $347,440 | ||
| 2 | $225,827 | ||
| 3 | $151,412 | ||
| 4 | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | $104,825 |
| 5 | Jonathan Cohen | Canada | $75,015 |
| 6 | Philip Sternheimer | United Kingdom | $55,553 |
Action on Day 4 picks up on Level 25 with blinds of 50,000-100,000 and 100,000-200,000 limits. The average stack is still worth 15 big bets, and each player has more than 10 big bets when play resumes, so it promises to still be a long, slow journey toward capturing the prestigious title. The top prize of $347,440 awaits the winner, as well as the WSOP gold bracelet and the prestige that comes from conquering such a star-studded field.
PokerNews returns tomorrow to provide all the live updates until one of the three is left standing.
