Four players, including Bryce Yockey in late position, called to see a flop. After the dealer spread and everyone checked to him, Yockey put out a bet of 300,000, which was enough to get all three players to fold.
Maximilian Klostermeier and Tim Seidensticker were headsup with a sizable pot already in the middle.
Seidensticker, first to act, checked the flop and Klostermeier bet 350,000, which was check-called by Seidensticker. Seidensticker then check-called the 1,000,000 bet from Klostermeier on the turn.
After Seidensticker checked for a third time on the river, Klostermeier, with a dominating chipstack, moved all in and put Seidensticker to a decision for his tournament life. He thought for about a minute before he released his cards, which sent the sizable pot to Klostermeier's already-sizable chipstack. His rail, led by Gus Hansen, let out a loud cheer.
Day 3 of Event #78: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty saw 42 players return with the intent to play down to a winner, but after another 10 levels of bounty hunting, seven players will be returning for an extra day in the hope they can claim the first place prize of $177,823 along with a coveted WSOP gold bracelet.
Leading the way is Maximilian Klostermeier, who started the day with 554,000 chips and ended with 10,240,000. Klostermeier stayed around 1,500,000 throughout the day until he was on the right side of back-to-back eliminations with 13 players left. First, he cracked Joseph Mobley's aces to send him out in 13th place and then Michael Amato ran his queens into Klostermeier's aces sending him out in 12th place.
With seven players remaining, incredibly, this marks Klostermeier's first-ever WSOP cash and he already has amassed more money in bounties than he has in total career earnings. What's even more impressive is that he has a little over one-third of the amount of chips in play, and almost twice the amount of David Callaghan (5,250,000) who is currently second in chips.
Following behind Klostermeier and Callaghan is bracelet winner Bryce Yockey (4,315,000), followed by Jason Stockfish (3,150,000), Ryan Lenaghan (2,460,000), Tim Seidensticker (1,810,000), and Scott Sharpe (1,010,000) round out the remaining seven players.
Final Table Payouts
Place
Name
Country
Payouts
1
$177,823
2
$109,844
3
$77,893
4
$55,939
5
$40,691
6
$29,987
7
$22,391
8
Heng Zhang
United States
$16,944
9
Joseph Liberta
United States
$12,996
Day 3 Action
Day 3 started out with three bracelet winners taking an early leave, the first being Daniel Negreanu. Negreanu played a total of two hands, the first was uncontested under the gun raise and in his second, he defended his big blind after Peter Kelly opened for 54,000 on the button and Negreanu's remaining 90,000 went into the middle after he paired his seven on a rainbow flop.
Negreanu was still behind after the flop but would take the lead turning two-pair. Unfortunately, it didn't last long as the dealer peeled off a three on the river giving Kelly a higher two-pair and the six-time bracelet winner was eliminated from the tournament after just two hands.
Following closely behind Negreanu would be bracelet winner Jim Collopy who got his remaining chips in the middle against Michael Amato after he flopped a flush draw on a paired board. Collopy turned an open-ended straight draw but couldn't connect on the river and he was eliminated by Amato's rockets.
Next in line was 2016 bracelet winner Kevin Eyster who got his remaining chips in the middle after the flop with pocket aces and was snapped off by chip leader Kazuhiko Yotsushika holding an open-ended straight draw. Yotsushika would get there on the turn sending the third bracelet winner home within the first five eliminations of the day.
Ten eliminations later would see four-time bracelet winner exit the field in Jeff Lisandro. After losing 99% of his chips on a missed flush draw to Maximilian Klostermeier, Lisandro got his remaining 24,000 in the middle in a five-way pot and it was Jesse Sylvia who would claim his bounty.
Once Lisandro was eliminated there were only two remaining bracelet winners left in the field, Bryce Yockey and Jack Duong. Duong came into Day 3 as the second shortest behind Daniel Negreanu with 180,000 but ran it up to over 2,800,000 at one point. The two bracelet winners would finally tangle when they were seated together after the two table redraw with Duong walking away with close to a 1,000,000 pot after making a good river call with the flush.
Duong's hot run wouldn't last very long as a few short hands later Duong ran his hand into Ryan Lenaghan and Lenaghan would be victorious after flopping trip eights, leaving Duong back to around his starting stack. Duong's remaining chips were taken by Scott Sharpe's Ladies, eliminating him in 17th place leaving Yockey as the last surviving bracelet winner.
How They Lined Up at the Start of the Final Table
Table
Seat
Player
Chip Count
492
1
Maximiliam Klostermeier
6,700,000
492
2
Scott Sharpe
3,100,000
492
3
Joseph Liberta
1,100,000
492
4
Jason Stockfish
3,500,000
492
5
Tim Seidensticker
1,500,000
492
6
Bryce Yockey
3,100,000
492
7
Heng Zhang
1,025,000
492
8
Ryan Lenaghan
1,900,000
492
9
David Callaghan
5,900,000
Final Table Action
It wouldn't take long after the final nine players took their seats to lose their first victim as Joseph Liberta got all his chips in the middle after flopping top pair holding top kicker but that was second best to Klostermeier's set of sixes and Liberta was sent to the rail in 9th place.
Next on the final table chopping block was Heng Zhang when he ran his flopped set of three's into Tim Seidensticker's flopped set of ten's.
The final tables action would conclude for the night with Klostermeier adding more chips to his stack after he got into a battle with Seidensticker that ended with Klostermeier jamming on the river getting a fold out of Seidensticker; the hand catapulted Klostermeier into a comfortable chip lead.
Day 4 is scheduled to play down to a winner and will have a 1 p.m. restart on Friday 12th July with action picking up on Level 31 where blinds will be 80,000/160,000. Blind levels will be 60-minutes long and players will receive a 15-minute break after every two levels.
Room
Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
Amazon
1
1
Maximilian Klostermeier
Denmark
10,240,000
64
Amazon
1
2
Scott Sharpe
United States
1,010,000
6
Amazon
1
3
Jason Stockfish
United States
3,150,000
20
Amazon
1
4
Tim Seidensticker
United States
1,810,000
11
Amazon
1
5
Bryce Yockey
United States
4,315,000
27
Amazon
1
6
Ryan Lenaghan
United States
2,460,000
15
Amazon
1
7
David Callaghan
Ireland
5,250,000
33
Tune in here tomorrow as the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all of the bounty action as a new champion will be crowned.