Steve Dannenmann got his last ~50,000 into the pot on a flop, and he can't be faulted for doing so with . The problem for him was that Scott Schwalich woke up with to make the call, and the 2005 Main Event runner-up was in bad shape with two to come.
The turn and river were not the nine that Steve-O was looking for, and he has been sent to the exit here in the first level of Day 3.
Rayan Nathan got the last of his chips in good with on a flop, but things would not go well from there. His opponent was on the draw with , and he got there promptly on the turn as the left Nathan drawing slim.
The river did nothing to improve his plight, and Nathan has gone under.
Freddy Deeb opened with a standard raise from the hijack seat, then saw an opponent in the small blind reraise all in for 25,000 more. The big blind got out, and Deeb called.
Deeb showed and his opponent . The flop came a dramatic -- a set for Deeb and two pair for his opponent. And the turn added further to the drama -- the ! -- giving Deeb's opponent the better full house. The river was the , and Deeb's opponent survived.
Kevin Saul came into play today as second in chips, bested only on day two by Ben Lamb. Today he's been continuing with his aggressive play, being active in many pots. His stack has been fluctuating around what he's started the day with and he hasn't been able to scoop any significant pots to keep himself trending upward. That being said, he has won his fair share of pots this level.
We caught up to see the board reading and Kevin Saul's opponent checked. Saul pushed out a bet of 15,800 into a pot of roughly 32,000. His opponent made the call and Saul tabled for two pair. His opponent shook his head and mucked his cards, allowing Saul to scoop up the pot.
It certainly hasn’t been a slow start to Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event, with Daniel Ryan exploding out of the gates to move up to 300,000 in chips after picking up a double KO when his pocket jacks cracked both pocket queens and pocket aces!
Ben Lamb is still at the top of the counts with 611,700. Jean-Robert Bellande, Lars Bonding, Phil Collins, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Jaffe, John Cernuto and Martin Hanitz have also increased their stacks, but Sam Trickett, Jennifer Harman, Dan Shak, Nam Le, Matt Matros, and Greg Mueller are just a few of the big names to have already hit the rail.
Due to today’s ESPN coverage, the players have been sent on a 15-minute break. We'll be back shortly (assuming we don’t get trampled on by the stampede rushing to the bathroom).
Just before the break, Isabelle Mercier found some fightin' chips. There was about 25,000 in the pot already when we joined a flop. A player in middle position opened to 14,000, and Mercier three-bet shoved for 41,300 total. The bettor tanked for ages before calling with , and Mercier's was well in front.
The turn and river kept the overpair safe for the lady, and she's doubled her way up to about 110,000.
We came into a hand where on a board of and 100,000 or so already in the pot, Kennth Friis went all in on the river. After a little bit of time, he got a call from his opponent who showed and his were clearly beat as he said "Nice call" and pushed over all but 2,800 of his stack.
Two hands later he pushed his last 2,800 in from early position, and the same player who crippled him raised to 6,000. Everyone else folded and Friis showed while his opponent had him dominated with . The board ran out and he again announced nice hand and walked off into the sunset.