Beastmode! Riess Rises to Monster Lead on Day 3 of the 2018 WSOPE Main Event
The halfway mark of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event has been reached, and an all-too-familiar name sits lonely at the top: Ryan Riess. The 2013 WSOP Main Event champion is towering above the 50 remaining players with 4,233,000 in chips, miles ahead of his nearest challenger Ivan Gabrieli (2,412,000). Riess could become the second player in history to win both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Event after Phil Hellmuth (1989 and 2012).
"Today was great," Riess unsurprisingly said shortly after bagging up for the night. "It started really badly; I had 150,000 at 3,000/6,000, and then this guy moved to my right with just a ton of chips, and I got really lucky against him. I doubled through him a lot, and it was just a good day."
On a day that saw former WSOPE Main Event champion Adrian Mateos bust, Riess is the last former WSOP Main Event standing – either in Vegas or in Europe.
"The WSOP is a little bit different here than it is in Vegas. It’s actually a lot different than Vegas. But it’s still the same tournament, it’s still the same old Main Event. The buzz is different around it here in Rozvadov, but it’s still a very prestigious tournament," Riess explained.
Any €10,000 tournament in Europe is going to be packed full of top players, and the WSOPE Main Event is no exception, with Riess coming up against some of Europe’s top players including two Brits which he felt warranted special mentions.
“I thought Ben Heath played amazing; he always plays great. I’m really impressed by him. Jack Salter is also always really hard to play against because he limps a lot; there’s just been a lot of really tough players."
And how does the prospect of dual – WSOP and WSOPE – Main Event champion sound to Riess?
“I want to win - I hope so! I’m going to try my best!"
Viktor Taranenko: From €0,01 to Bubble Boy
While Riess was making waves on the flip side, a heartbreaking story popped up among those that were trying to scramble their way into the money. Viktor Taranenko was living the ultimate recreational poker player's dream: the Russian had qualified online on partypoker by spinning a €0,01 (!) satellite all the way up to a WSOPE Main Event seat worth €10,350.
The Cinderella-story lasted nearly three days, but on the stone-cold bubble, Taranenko was forced all in from the big blind with ten-four and had to outrun Gary Hasson's ace-king. Poker can be a cruel mistress at times, and for Taranenko, there was no miracle waiting in the in the cards.
Visibly upset, Taranenko made his exit from the tournament area while all remaining players were guaranteed at least €15,074 for their efforts. The Russian was only left with a fireplace-story about that one time when he almost turned one cent into 15k.
Day 3 at a glance
165 players returned for another six levels of 90 minutes with a clear goal in mind: reaching the money. Maria Lampropulos, Tobias Ziegler, Ludovic Geilich, Viktor Blom, Alex Foxen, and former WSOPE champion Adrian Mateos all received nothing to show for their efforts despite reaching Day 3.
After Taranenko's bubble bustout, mincashes were awarded to the likes of Ben Heath (80th - €15,074), Mustapha Kanit (78th - €15,074), Will Givens (76th - €15,074), Jan-Eric Schwippert (67th - €15,700), Dietrich Fast (59th - €16,723), Tobias Peters (53rd - €18,210), and Rainer Kempe (52nd - €18,210).
Ryan Riess was seated at the feature table after the bubble had burst and played a key hand that propelled him to his massive end-of-day lead. Holding ace-jack of spades, Riess flopped the nut flush and saw Piotr Nurzynski already commit his final chips on the flop. On a blank turn, the rest of Riess' stack went in against Robert Skopalik, who had flopped a lower flush. Nurzynski had two pair and the river brought another blank to ship the nearly 4M pot to Riess.
Notables that bagged include Igor Kurganov (2,000,000), Day 2 chipleader Dario Sammartino (1,503,000), Niall Farrell (1,350,000), Andy Black (1,214,000), Jack Sinclair (1,202,000), Jack Salter (445,000), and Julian Thomas (221,000).
There was also good news for all fans of "The Chainsaw", Allen Kessler. Despite already having a storied poker career with over $3,5M in lifetime winnings, there was one achievement that was surprisingly missing on his poker resumé: cashing in a World Series of Poker Main Event. The monkey is finally off his back as Kessler, after 15 failed attempts in Las Vegas and 4 in Europe, bagged 628,000 to make it to Day 4.
On Wednesday, cards will be back in the air at noon local time in King's Casino in Rozvadov, where the 50 players will play another scheduled six levels of 90 minutes each. Blinds will resume in level 20 with a small blind of 10,000, a big blind of 20,000 and a big blind ante also of 20,000. PokerNews will be right back on the floor to capture all the excitement as the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event rolls on.
Day 4 Seating and Chip Counts
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 148 | 1 | Igor Tregoubov | Canada | 478,000 | 24 |
| 148 | 2 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | 962,000 | 48 |
| 148 | 3 | Robert Skopalik | Czech Republic | 380,000 | 19 |
| 148 | 4 | Gary Hasson | Belgium | 2,198,000 | 110 |
| 148 | 5 | Markus Durnegger | Austria | 1,048,000 | 52 |
| 148 | 6 | Steven Warburton | United Kingdom | 1,400,000 | 70 |
| 148 | 8 | Danilo Velasevic | Serbia | 691,000 | 35 |
| 149 | 1 | Andy Black | Ireland | 1,214,000 | 61 |
| 149 | 2 | Sylvain Loosli | France | 1,927,000 | 96 |
| 149 | 3 | Yunsheng Sun | China | 751,000 | 38 |
| 149 | 4 | Vincent Robert | France | 346,000 | 17 |
| 149 | 5 | Joel Ettedgi | United Kingdom | 1,500,000 | 75 |
| 149 | 7 | Armin Rezaei | Austria | 874,000 | 44 |
| 149 | 8 | Eder Takashi Murata | Brazil | 540,000 | 27 |
| 150 | 1 | Tobias Anttila | Finland | 391,000 | 20 |
| 150 | 2 | Michal Schuh | Czech Republic | 2,056,000 | 103 |
| 150 | 4 | James Morgan | Canada | 732,000 | 37 |
| 150 | 5 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | 1,350,000 | 68 |
| 150 | 6 | Lukasz Grossmann | Poland | 840,000 | 42 |
| 150 | 7 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 592,000 | 30 |
| 150 | 8 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 1,025,000 | 51 |
| 151 | 1 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 1,503,000 | 75 |
| 151 | 2 | Jona Wilmsmann | Germany | 804,000 | 40 |
| 151 | 3 | Aymon Hata | United Kingdom | 411,000 | 21 |
| 151 | 4 | Milos Skrbic | Serbia | 652,000 | 33 |
| 151 | 5 | Ivan Gabrieli | Italy | 2,412,000 | 121 |
| 151 | 6 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 1,202,000 | 60 |
| 151 | 8 | Jaroslav Peter | Czech Republic | 461,000 | 23 |
| 164 | 2 | Ming Xi | China | 1,300,000 | 65 |
| 164 | 3 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 1,006,000 | 50 |
| 164 | 4 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russian Federation | 427,000 | 21 |
| 164 | 5 | Marco Slacanac | Germany | 677,000 | 34 |
| 164 | 6 | Liwei Sun | China | 1,656,000 | 83 |
| 164 | 7 | Julian Thomas | Germany | 221,000 | 11 |
| 164 | 8 | Ognjen Sekularac | Serbia | 1,174,000 | 59 |
| 165 | 1 | Ihor Yerofieiev | Ukraine | 1,134,000 | 57 |
| 165 | 2 | Ryan Riess | United States | 4,233,000 | 212 |
| 165 | 3 | Bahram Chobineh | Dominica | 1,560,000 | 78 |
| 165 | 4 | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | 651,000 | 33 |
| 165 | 5 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | 1,263,000 | 63 |
| 165 | 6 | Michael Sklenicka | Czech Republic | 387,000 | 19 |
| 165 | 7 | Allen Kessler | United States | 628,000 | 31 |
| 165 | 8 | Oleksandr Lagoda | Ukraine | 1,013,000 | 51 |
| 166 | 1 | Leonard Maue | Germany | 910,000 | 46 |
| 166 | 3 | Igor Kurganov | Germany | 2,000,000 | 100 |
| 166 | 4 | Jack Salter | United Kingdom | 445,000 | 22 |
| 166 | 5 | Bulcsu Lukacs | Romania | 1,148,000 | 57 |
| 166 | 6 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 700,000 | 35 |
| 166 | 7 | Dominik Matejka | Czech Republic | 420,000 | 21 |
| 166 | 8 | Sean McNulty | Canada | 1,454,000 | 73 |
and was called by Robert Skopalik on the button, Ryan Riess and Piotr Nurzynski in the blinds. 
, Riess, Nurzynski, and Peter checked, Skopalik bet 55,000 and Riess called, Nurzynski shoved for 190,000 from the big blind, Peter folded and Skopalik called. Riess checked his cards once more and then made the call.
, Riess checked again, Skopalik bet 680,000, Riess looked at the bet and the pot, Riess tanked and then shoved for 1,702,000 which Skopalik snap-called. 
which was just a formality as Skopalik was drawing dead. Nurzynski was eliminated in 61st place while Skopalik was left short with 310,000.
run out and he was eliminated.
and was called by Robert Skopalik (
) in mid-position, Jaroslav Peter (
) on the button, and Jack Salter (
) in the small blind. Josip Simunic shoved in the big blind for 69,000 with 
, Salter was now the only one to call the 85,000 bet of Sinclair.
, Salter now checked, Sinclair bet for Salter to snap-fold. The cards went on their backs and Simunic got up from his chair as Sinclair was ahead with the rivered two pair. Simunic was eliminated in 62nd place for €16,723.
flop. The turn was the 
and doubled through Stegeman's 
.
and shoved in early position. Both Jona Wilmsmann and Sergio Aido called to put Stegeman at risk. They checked it down on 
to not provide any help to Heath as Riess was still ahead with the pocket tens.
on the river meant the end of Heath's tournament life as he finished in 80th place.
flop which didn't change the situation at all as Hasson was still in front.
on the river completed the board for Taranenko to bust in 82nd place without a cash. Taranenko qualified online for €0.01 and was bitterly disappointed to not have made the money. He quickly left the tournament area, clearly upset, while the rest of the players celebrated their min-cash and rushed to the buffet to enjoy their 60-minute dinner break.
