Sandra Naujoks opened with a raise to 4,000 from middle position, and it folded around to the button who reraised to 12,200. James Calderaro, sitting in the small blind, checked his cards and said he was all in.
The dealer counted out Calderaro's chips. "48,500," she said, and the action was on Naujoks. As she thought, Calderaro held up one extra black chip that the dealer had missed, raising his eyebrows. "48,600," the dealer corrected.
Naujoks folded, and after some thought the button folded as well. Calderaro showed his and dragged the pot. He's smiling, but still on the short side with about 65,000.
On the feature table, Henry Van Tran raised to 4,500 preflop and received calls from Dale Robinson, Daniel Negreanu (small blind), and Brian Dennis (big blind). It was four-way action to the flop, which inspired Negreanu to lead out for 9,200. Only Van Tran made the call and it was heads up to the turn.
Action went check-check and the dealer put out the on the river. Negreanu checked, Van Tran bet 15,000, and Negreanu tanked hard. He perked up in his chair as he thought the hand through, eventually settling on a call. Van Tran sheepishly turned over for ace high, which wasn't good enough against the of Negreanu.
The player in the cutoff opened for 4,500 and Josh Brikis called from the button. The flop came and both players checked. The turn came , the cutoff bet 16,000 and Brikis called. The river brought the , the cutoff checked and Brikis bet 18,000.
The cutoff tanked for a short while and then folded, giving the pot to Brikis who is working his way back up to what he started Day 3 with.
Jani Sointula raised to 4,500 from the cutoff seat, and the small blind three-bet to 12,000 straight. Sointula called, and off they went.
The flop came , and the small blind continued out with another 13,800. Sointula called that bet, and he called another 23,700 behind the turn. The filled out the board on the river, and the small blind shoved all in for 58,700. Sointula called again, and those were all chips he'd not get back. The small blind tabled for two pair, and it earns him the big double to knock Sointula all the way down to 105,000.
The action folded around to Victor Ramdin on the button who raised to 4,500 before the flop, only to see the small blind re-raise to 13,700. The big blind folded and Ramdin tanked for about two minutes before re-raising to 31,000 total. The small blind snap-shoved.
Ramdin almost fell out of his chair, but adjusted himself back in his seat and went back into the tank. After a very tense three minutes, he furrowed his brow and brushed his cards away into the muck.
We came upon this hand with a mountain of chips in the middle of the table. The pot was already at 65,000 with the board reading . Billy Paradiso had checked and Don Nguyen had an 87,200 river bet in front of him.
Paradiso was deep in the tank and a considerable amount of time passed before Paradiso announced call. Nguyen revealed for air and Paradiso turned over to take the pot and chipped up substantially with that hero call.
Last year's Main Event runner-up John Racener has been having a tough go of it here on Day 3. While he began the day with a big stack, he seems to be stuck in reverse. In a recent hand, a player in the cutoff raised to 4,100 and Racener made the call from the small blind.
Racener then check-called a bet of 7,500 on the flop, leading to the turn. Both players checked that card, as well as the on the river. The cutoff rolled over for a pair of jacks, which was good enough to win the pot. Racener is down to 52,000.