On Tuesday night, Scotty Nguyen took a seat at the feature table as part of ESPN’s coverage of Day 3 of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. For the first time, the entire field of the Main Event was housed under one roof. In addition, seven former champions of the $10,000 buy-in tournament remained in the hunt for the nearly $9 million first place prize.
One of the first double ups of the day belonged to Unabomber Poker front man Phil Laak, who was all-in pre-flop with A-Q suited against pocket queens. Laak flopped a flush draw in addition to one overcard and the turn secured his win in the hand with five diamonds. Nearby at the feature table, poker author David Sklansky was not as fortunate, busting with 10-9 of hearts against A-9 after his opponent flopped trip aces.
Back-to-back Main Event champ Johnny Chan claimed the chip lead, while fellow Main Event winner Nguyen laid down A-K face up after an opponent 4bet. 2003 Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker, a PokerStars sponsored pro, was all-in pre-flop with 10-5 of spades and up against K-8 of clubs. The board ran out 4-4-4-6-9 and Moneymaker was eliminated from competition.
Allied Network Solutions CEO Ted Bort, who memorably barked like a dog last week in celebration, did so once again. This time, WSOP floor officials warned him to stop “yelling at the top of your lungs” or he’d receive a penalty. Last week, Bort was involved in a controversial hand against Prahlad Friedman that saw Friedman call at the one-second mark of a countdown, but tournament officials ruled his hand was dead. On Day 3, Friedman hit the rail after running top two pair into a flush.
Full Tilt‘s Erik Seidel was eliminated on Tuesday night on ESPN, as was Godsmack front man Sully Erna, who ran pocket queens into pocket kings. In the final elimination of the first one-hour episode, defending Main Event champion Joe Cada was all-in pre-flop with A-Q and called by a player with pocket tens. Cada picked up a flush draw on the flop, but the turn and river bricked out, sending the former winner home to Michigan.
To begin the second episode, Daniel Negreanu was eliminated after flopping two pair and running into an opponent’s turned straight. Meanwhile, Bort, itching to get his bark on, won a pot, ran to a nearby table, ducked his head underneath it, and quietly barked. UB.com pro Billy “Patrolman35” Kopp made his second straight dramatic exit from the Main Event, this time check-raising all-in on the turn with aces-full, but running into quads. Last year, he went out in a flush-over-flush situation against Darvin Moon.
Deuces Cracked founder Chuck Danielsson was a late casualty of Day 3 after running pocket jacks into poker pro Adam Schoenfeld’s pocket kings. Meanwhile, former Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande doubled up an opponent who made a royal flush holding just the ten of hearts.
In the largest pot on Day 3 shown by ESPN, Jordan Cristos was all-in pre-flop with pocket aces against November Niner Filippo Candio’s pocket kings. A pot of 685,000 was up for grabs and Candio spiked a king on the river to claim it. He began running around the roped off area at Table 2 screaming inaudible Italian phrases in celebration and seemingly stamped his ticket to the 2010 WSOP Main Event final table.
Next Tuesday at 9:00pm ET, Day 4 will kick off. Catch the WSOP on ESPN every Tuesday night.
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