Event #11: €10,350 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT
Day 3 Completed
2017 World Series of Poker Europe
Event #11: €10,350 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT
Day: 3
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 World Series of Poker Europe
Buy-in
€10,350
Prize Pool
€5,025,500
Entries
529
Level
35
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
75,000
Defending Champ MacPhee, Two-Time Bracelet Winner Bicknell Among 46 Left
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
Day 3 of World Series of Poker Europe Main Event began with 135 players, and by the time play wrapped up after almost exactly 12 hours, the field had been reduced to 46, all of whom are in the money.
Plenty of notables are among those remaining. Start with Kevin MacPhee, the American pro who conquered WSOPE the last time it ran, winning in 2015 in a field of 313 runners in Berlin for €883,000. MacPhee did not come into the day with a ton of chips but built up during the middle stages and wound up with 653,000.
One key pot he won saw him flip for about 300,000 at 5,000/10,000/1,000 with fellow pro Anatoly Filatov. MacPhee held jacks and managed to hold and win unimproved against ace-queen suited. Had MacPhee lost that one, he would have been under 20 big blinds.
Another player who made it through: two-time gold bracelet winner Kristen Bicknell. She took down the Ladies Championship in 2013 for $173,922 and then the $1,500 Bounty in 2016 for $290,768. Bicknell busted a number of the more accomplished players in the field, including bracelet winners Asi Moshe and Dominik Nitsche, the latter of whom took down the €111,111 High Roller for One Drop just days ago.
Despite those windfalls, Bicknell found herself all in and at risk in a five-bet all in pot against Andrei Boghean. Luckily for the Canadian, she had a big edge with kings against jacks and faded any further fishhooks appearing on the board to double to 1.1 million before bagging 1,085,000.
Everyone's looking up in the counts at relatively unknown Robert Bickley, though. The British player bagged 1,431,000 to lead the way heading into Day 4. He busted Philipp Gruissem in the last hand of the night when Gruissem got it in with king-ten of clubs and couldn't overcome ace-king.
He's followed by top pros Jack Salter (1,396,000) and Rainer Kempe (1,254,000), both of whom have experience against the toughest competition that populate $100K buy-ins and other high rollers. They'll surely be considered by most observers to be among the favorites at this point.
The money bubble burst a little over halfway through the day, with the top 80 places paid. Spanish reg Javier Zarco busted in unlucky 81st place when he couldn't improve with three outs when he was all in for 11 big blinds.
Some of those who walked away from their final hand to the payout desk included Stefan Schillhabel, Dominik Panka, Julian Stuer, Pierre Neuville, Alexander Lakhov and 888poker Ambassador Vivian Saliba.
Action resumes once again at noon local time on Wednesday, with blinds and antes at 6,000/12,000/2,000 and everyone in the money for at least €20,175. Come back to PokerNews to see who collects that amount and who can best position himself or herself for €1,115,207 on Day 4.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Home Country | Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Bickley | UK | 1,431,000 |
| 2 | Jack Salter | UK | 1,396,000 |
| 3 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 1,254,000 |
| 4 | Michal Mrakes | Czech Republic | 1,245,000 |
| 5 | Kristen Bicknell | Canada | 1,285,000 |
| 6 | Vlad Darie | Romania | 1,045,000 |
| 7 | Marc MacDonnell | Ireland | 895,000 |
| 8 | Vishal Maini | UK | 790,000 |
| 9 | Niall Farrell | UK | 745,000 |
| 10 | Chi Zhang | UK | 699,000 |
End of Day Counts (full)
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,431,000 | 598,000 |
|
1,396,000 | 196,000 |
|
1,254,000 | 524,000 |
|
1,245,000 | -105,000 |
|
1,085,000 | -57,000 |
|
1,045,000 | 63,000 |
|
1,041,000 | -139,000 |
|
895,000 | 345,000 |
|
790,000 | 280,000 |
|
745,000 | 20,000 |
|
699,000 | -16,000 |
|
669,000 | -262,000 |
|
659,000 | 189,000 |
|
655,000 | 5,000 |
|
653,000 | 70,000 |
|
620,000 | 286,000 |
|
576,000 | -54,000 |
|
576,000 | 148,000 |
|
568,000 | 188,000 |
|
542,000 | 411,000 |
|
540,000 | -80,000 |
|
537,000 | -103,000 |
|
524,000 | -57,000 |
|
503,000 | 107,000 |
|
483,000 | -47,000 |
Gruissem Four-Bet Shoves Final Hand, Busts
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
Philipp Gruissem opened to 23,000 from middle position and Robert Bickley reraised to 63,000. Gruissem four-bet shoved his remaining 256,000 and Bickley snap called.
Bickley had 
against the 
of Gruissem. The board ran out 
and Gruissem was eliminated. Bickley will end the day as the chip leader.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Pidun Eliminates Rachel
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
The board read 
and Thomer Pidun bet 87,000 from the under-the-gun position. Christian Rachel shoved all in from the button and Pidun called having Rachel covered. Rachel showed 
for two pair, fives and threes. But Pidun had for the bigger two pair and an elimination to his name.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,180,000 | 321,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Zoufri Shows Peters
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
David Peters bet 20,000 from the big blind on a 
flop. Abdelhakim Zoufri called from middle position. Peters bet 45,000 on the 
turn and Zoufri thought a bit and then shoved. It was enough to put Peters at risk for 160,000 or so and he folded without too much thought.
Zoufri showed 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
640,000 | 330,000 |
|
160,000 | -183,000 |
Long Hand Gets Checked Down
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
After an early open by David Peters and a call by Stepan Osinovski in the cutoff, big blind Andrei Boghean made it 76,000 to go. Only Osinovski wanted to continue, though it took a few minutes in the tank before he decided to call. Both players checked the 
after each taking their turn thinking. On the 
, Boghean checked. Osinovski thought a couple of minutes and checked. On the 
river, Boghean checked again. Osinovski again went deep into the tank. After about four minutes, someone called a clock. As his timer was about to run out, Osinovski checked.
Boghean shook his head and opened 
. Osinovski had him high-carded with 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
620,000 | |
|
346,000 | 26,000 |
Darie Rivers a Flush Against Farrell
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
Vlad Darie raised to 22,000 from the under-the-gun position and action folded to Niall Farrell in the big blind. Farrell called.
They both checked through the 
on the flop. The came on the turn, Farrell check-called the 24,000 bet of Darie.
The river completed the board with the 
, Farrell now bet 38,000 and Darie called. Farrell showed 
for trip queens but Darie had him beat with 
for the rivered flush and the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
982,000 | -8,000 |
|
|
725,000 | -214,000 |
Varnica Doesn't Get Called
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
The flop read 
, Ante Varnica bet 45,000 from the under-the-gun position. Chi Zhang raised to 114,000 from mid-position. Varnica three-bet shoved for about 400,000 extra and Zhang folded in the end.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
715,000 | -33,000 |
|
|
630,000 | 135,000 |
Mrakes Plays Aces Carefully
Level 18
: 5,000/10,000, 1,000 ante
Rainer Kempe and Michal Mrakes saw the flop for 71,000. The flop came 
and Kempe checked. Mrakes bet 77,000 and Kempe called.
The turn was the and both players checked. They both checked again on the river when the 
came and Kempe showed . Mrakes flipped over 
and collected the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,350,000 | 607,000 |
|
|
730,000 | 140,000 |