Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship Day 3 | 2025 World Series of Poker

07-08-2025 14:49 UTC-8

Lardner Virtually Triples Back Into Contention

Christian Zetzsche

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Three ways to the J♠2♠2♦ flop, two short stacks were all-in against Qiang Xu to set up the following showdown with Prince Cassell in the big blind and Stephen Lardner on the button involved.

Prince Cassell: J♣4♣ All in
Stephen Lardner: A♠8♠ All in
Qiang Xu: Q♠J♥

The Q♥ turn left Cassell on very thin ice while Lardner could still survive with a spade. That came with the 4♠ river and he doubled through Xu for 62,500 while covering Cassell by a very small margin.

Player	Chips	Progress
Stephen Lardner	195,000 76,500	76,500
Qiang Xu	191,500 249,500	249,500

Pau Veciana	Busted
Prince Cassell	Busted

Tags: Prince Cassell Qiang Xu Stephen Lardner

07-08-2025 14:51 UTC-8

Gradually Decreasing Bet Sizes by Kornuth & Zhang

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Connor Richards

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Chance Kornuth raised to 6,500 from under the gun and Yu Zhang three-bet to 20,000 from the next seat. Kornuth called.

Kornuth checked on the flop of 2♣3♥4♠ and stared Zhang down as he sized down to 15,000. Kornuth called. Kornuth checked again on the 10♥ turn and Zhang checked back.

The bets got smaller from there as Kornuth led out for 10,000 on the 9♦ river. Zhang went in the tank for around a minute before folding.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chance Kornuth	450,000 20,000	20,000

Yu Zhang	85,000 85,000	85,000

Tags: Yu Zhang Chance Kornuth

07-08-2025 14:51 UTC-8

Villa Gets Value on All Three Streets From Wan

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Kai Cocklin

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Alexander Villa just scooped himself a chunky pot and recalled the action.

Villa put in a squeeze from the big blind and only Calvin Wan called from early position.

Each of the streets saw Villa bet and Wan call, with Villa's river bet being 109,500. Villa flipped Q♦Q♣, and Wan mucked and paid off the bet.

Player	Chips	Progress
Masao Watanabe	500,000 309,500	309,500
Alexander Villa	480,000 324,000	324,000
Frank Dipietro	200,000 54,000	54,000
Calvin Wan	80,000 249,000	249,000

Tags: Alexander Villa Calvin Wan

07-08-2025 14:53 UTC-8

Hui Takes from Lopas

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Ryan Lashmar

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Jonah Lopas opened to 6,000 from early position with J♦J♣ and Loni Hui three-bet to 30,000 from the big blind with A♦5♥. Lopas called.

Both players checked the flop and turn leading to a final board of K♥A♠K♦10♠4♥. Hui bet 20,000 and Lopas mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Loni Hui	233,000 37,500	37,500

Jonah Lopas	129,000 153,500	153,500

Tags: Jonah Lopas Loni Hui

07-08-2025 14:54 UTC-8

Dopazo Finds Queens to Double Through Ilyas

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Sava Krink

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

With action folding around to Francisco Dopazo in the cutoff, he moved all in for his last 44,500. Semsettin Ilyas quickly called from the small blind to put him at risk.

Francisco Dopazo: Q♥8♥ All in
Semsettin Ilyas: J♦J♣

Dopazo was behind preflop, but the Q♠4♣9♠ flop put him out front with top pair, prompting an immediate shake of the head from Ilyas.

The 10♦ on the turn took away some of Ilyas’ outs, and though he asked the dealer for a king on the river, it was the Q♦ that showed up instead, improving Dopazo to trips and locking up the double.

Ilyas was left visibly frustrated as Dopazo stacked his newly won chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Semsettin Ilyas	174,500 72,500	72,500
Francisco Javier Dopazo	95,000 45,000	45,000

Tags: Francisco Dopazo Semsettin Ilyas

07-08-2025 14:55 UTC-8

Karlsson Wins a Flip vs Munisekar

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Tim Baker

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Viet Vo made it 7,000 from the cutoff before Devaraj Munisekar three-bet to 20,000 from the button. After a long tank, Alfred Karlsson jammed for 77,500 out of the big blind, prompting Vo to fold. Munisekar spent quite some time in the tank, deciding whether to call or fold. In the end, Munisekar called to put Karlsson at risk.

Alfred Karlsson: 10♣10♠ All in
Devaraj Munisekar: A♥Q♥

It was a flip that Karlsson needed to win to remain in the Main Event. The dealer put out a board of 7♠6♦4♦K♣3♠, keeping Karlsson's pocket tens ahead the whole way, and earning him the much-needed double-up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Viet Vo	230,000 10,000	10,000
Alfred Karlsson	165,000 49,000	49,000
Devaraj Munisekar	120,000 6,000	6,000

Tags: Alfred Karlsson Devaraj Munisekar

07-08-2025 14:58 UTC-8

Strebkov Forces Out Kyriakides

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Will Shillibier

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Denis Strebkov raised to 6,000 and Miltiadis Kyriakides three-bet to 20,000. Strebkov called and the flop came J♥J♣4♠

Strebkov check-called 12,000 and the pair checked the 5♥ turn. The river was the 7♣ and Strebkov bet 47,000.

Kyriakides thought about his decision. "Do you have queens?" he asked his opponent before folding.

Player	Chips	Progress
Miltiadis Kyriakides	480,000 115,000	115,000
Denis Strebkov	200,000 70,000	70,000

Tags: Denis Strebkov Miltiadis Kyriakides

07-08-2025 15:00 UTC-8

Dunaway Has A Way With Chips

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Liam Gannon

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Jacob Steede raised to 6,000 in early position and Braxton Dunaway three-bet to 21,000 from the cutoff and Steede called.

The flop rolled out J♦4♥5♠ and Steede check-called a bet of 12,000 from Dunaway.

On turn A♥, Steede checked over Dunaway who sized up to 29,000 and Steede folded.

Player	Chips	Progress
Braxton Dunaway	715,000 231,500	231,500

Jacob Steede	69,000 144,000	144,000

Tags: Braxton Dunaway Jacob Steede

07-08-2025 15:01 UTC-8

Big Counts from Horseshoe Red

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Will Shillibier

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Oleksii Kravchuk	860,000 77,500	77,500

David Cabrera Polop	720,000 16,000	16,000
Braxton Dunaway	715,000

Sylwia Studniarz	640,000 90,000	90,000
Andreas Staschewski	620,000 445,500	445,500
Farid Jattin	550,000 220,000	220,000
Kevin Calenzo	540,000 83,000	83,000
Tamas Lendvai	510,000 70,000	70,000

07-08-2025 15:02 UTC-8

Buckingham Slows Down Kay

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Connor Richards

Level 12 : Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

After building his stack to near a million, Joshua Kay found himself in a big pot against Richard Buckingham.

On a board of J♦10♠A♦K♠3♠, Kay bet 42,000 and Buckingham raised to 100,000. Kay went in the tank and eventually called, only to muck as Buckingham showed A♠4♠ for the nut flush.

At the next table over, John Dlubala complained about his recent run of cards as he folded his small blind to give the big blind a walk.

"I haven't been beat this bad since I was 9 years old," Dlubala said.