Day 3 of the €1,350 Mini Main Event kicks off at 2 p.m. today with 29 players returning from the 1,286 entries, with the intention of playing down to the final table.
It is Italy's Candido Cappiello who leads the pack with a stack of 12,665,000 but is closely followed by Iman Ghashayar of the Netherlands with 10,780,000 chips.
Thomas Eychenne maneuvered his way into a podium position heading into Day 3 and brings through a whopping 9,175,000 to work with. With over $2,000,000 in lifetime earnings it's surprising to see that a WSOP final table or bracelet still eludes the French player. Eychenne will be looking to add one, if not both of those to his already impressive resume, and he definitely has the skills and chip stack to make them happen.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Place
Name
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Candido Cappiello
Italy
12,665,000
106
2
Iman Ghashayar
The Netherlands
10,780,000
90
3
Thomas Eychenne
France
9,175,000
76
4
Xiaohua Yang
China
8,380,000
70
5
Alen Sabic
Bosnia and Herzegovina
7,650,000
64
6
Luc Ramos
Switzerland
6,325,000
53
7
Frederik Thiemer
Germany
6,195,000
52
8
Rachid El Yaacoubi
France
5,500,000
46
9
Vazha Kometiani
Georgia
4,880,000
41
10
Vladas Burneikis
Lithuania
4,550,000
38
Day 1 chip leader Xiaohua Yang sits in fourth (8,380,000) with Event #4: €2,000 Pot Limit Omaha's fourth-place finisher Alen Sabic (7,650,000) just behind him in fifth. The only bracelet winner left in the field is Stephen Nahm (4,325,000), who currently resides in the twelfth position.
Stephen Nahm
Some of the middling stacks to take their seats at baize today include: Florian Duta (4,140,000), Andreas Krause (4,000,000), Claudio Di Giacomo (3,460,000), Ivan Banic (3,080,000) and Catalin Diac (2,540,000). Bringing up the rear as the short stacks are Luigi Pignataro (1,810,000), Sebastien Lucina (1,480,000), and Metodi Peychev (1,245,000)
The remaining players have all locked up €6,585 thus far, but all will have their eyes set on the €213,350 first-place prize that awaits the winner. There will be an important mini-bubble to deal with when 15 remain, as the top 14 spots will all be given a 2024 WSOP Europe Main Event seat. This means the difference in payout between finishing fifteenth and fourteenth is more than double.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Payout
Place
Payout
1
€213,350
8
€31,050
2
€145,550
9
€26,250
3
€105,850
10-11
€22,850
4
€78,650
12-14
€20,280
5
€59,950
15
€9,930
6
€46,850
16-23
€8,020
7
€37,650
24-29
€6,585
*the top fourteen payouts include a €10,350 WSOPE Main Event Day 1a seat
The day will start at Level 27 (60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante), and the average stack sits at just over 4,400,000 — around thirty-seven big blinds.
Be sure to follow along with the updates on PokerNews to see who can make it to the final table of the €1,350 Mini Main Event.
Mels Hovhannisyan moved all in for 1,550,000 in the hijack and Rachid El Yaacoubi called in the small blind.
Mels Hovhannisyan: 9♣9♦
Rachid El Yaacoubi: A♣10♦
The K♦K♥J♣ flop gave El Yaacoubi a straight draw and outs to counterfeit Hovhannisyan's pair. The 5♥ turn was safe for Hovhannisyan, but the Q♦ fell on the river to complete El Yaacoubi's straight and send Hovhannisyan to the rail.
Nourri Oliver Sebaa raised to 300,000 on the button, Xiaohua Yang moved all in from the big blind, and Sebaa snap-called for 1,500,000.
Nourri Oliver Sebaa: K♥Q♥
Xiaohua Yang: 3♣3♠
The 3♦ came right in the window to give Yang a set and leave Sebaa already far behind as the rest of the flop came 9♣5♥. The 9♥ turn improved Yang to a full house and Sebaa was drawing dead by the A♦ river and heading for the exit.
Action folded to Metodi Peychev in the small blind who moved all in for 1,000,000. Claudio Di Giacomo in the big blind took a few minutes but eventually called to put Peychev at risk.
Metodi Peychev: J♥5♥
Claudio Di Giacomo: K♦9♠
Di Giacomo was ahead as the flop came 8♣6♠2♠, but Peychev hit the J♦ on the turn to make top pair. The river was the 7♣ and Peychev doubled up.
