You could feel the tension rising on Day 3. For the first time, players had been pooled together into one day, and the idea that, now, this is it, the final group of players, seemed to add an element of excitement that triggered a buzz to simmer through the Amazon and Pavillion Room alike.
2,559 players arrived at the Rio, all with a glint in their eye as they sat surrounded by pictures of previous winners. For them, this was to be the day that sorted the men from the boys, a day in which genuine contenders would emerge, and a day in which their dream of becoming the next picture on the wall got just that little bit closer to being realised.
One player looking to bring the bracelet back to Europe was Black Belt Poker sponsored pro Owen Robinson. Having struggled all tournament, today was his opportunity to shine and make a real impact on this year's Main Event. At first, it looked as though he was heading in the right direction, when his stack soared from 29,000 up to 50,000. Raising it up to 2,300 from under the gun with A-9 of diamonds, the big blind called leading to a flop of A-J-x. His opponent led for 6,000, so Owen moved all in, which was enough to force the fold. "I put you on A-J," she commented, thus making Owen believe that he had got her to fold a stronger ace.
"After that, I was on a table with Orjan Holt," regaled Owen. "He was making lots of small raises and playing a lot of hands. Neil [Channing] said that he was one of the players who was capable of doing something crazy. I hadn't defended my blind much, so when he raised it I decided to call with T-8. The flop came T-5-5 with two hearts and I check-raised his bet of 2,500 to 7,500. He made it 15,000 and I pushed all in. He quickly folded his hand, which gave my stack a nice boost."
Unfortunately, this ascent would only be temporary, as Owen exited prior to the dinner break. Within moments of arriving at a new table, Owen found pocket eights in the small blind, and with Theo Tran raising it up to 3,200 from UTG+1 and another player flat calling, he decided to come along for the ride.
After everyone had checked the J-7-5 flop, Tran fired at the 6 turn and Owen shipped it in. Tran made the call with K-J, which not only held, but improved to two pair on the K river. "I should have raised preflop," regretted Owen in the aftermath. "It's just that it was a new table and I didn't know the players too well."
Owen wasn't the only casualty of the day, as fellow Blue Belt Jamie Burland also hit the deck. Jamie's story was slightly different, however, as he missed the first 30 minutes of play after being unable to present a form of identification. Somehow, Jamie had misplaced his passport, and spent most of the opening hour pleading with the authorities to let him play. Eventually, they conceded, and Jamie took his seat.
Initially, it appeared as though this was a blessing in disguise as Jamie doubled through with aces versus jacks, and then scooped more chips when he won a pot with a straight, but after a fruitless second half of the day, Jamie departed with just 30 minutes to spare. It had been a plucky effort from the former Grader, but in the end, it just wasn't to be and he was forced to leave the Rio empty-handed.
To make it three strikes for Blue Belts, Chaz Chattha also joined death row. He played well all day, but lost a big coin flip when he pushed all in with A-Q and was called by pocket nines. As expected, Chaz was said to be very disappointed after his exit, as were the rest of the Hit Squad whose combined assault on this year's World Series now rested on the shoudlers of lone solider Praz Bansi.
This left us with just two Black Belt Poker players: CEO Warren Wooldridge and two-time Amsterdam Master Classics finalist Tristan McDonald. The latter of those two ended the day with his stack in tact, but still a stride or two off the pace. "Tristan finished with 150,000," informed Black Belt Poker co-founder and friend Neil Channing, "although he bluffed off 30,000 near the end."
Warren, meanwhile, finished the day with 255,800, a magnificent feat considering he was all in on Day 1 with nines versus queens. "I have 118,000 at the end of Level 9," he earlier reported, "but the chip leader is very active and opening 80 percent of pots."
Despite this hurdle, Warren was able to double up to 350 when he hit a set of sevens, a figure he hovered around for a while, and would have finished on if it hadn't been for an opponent calling him down with T-T versus Warren's A-K on a K-9-2-x-T board. Nevertheless, he had survived four levels of play, and would be bringing back a playable stack the following day.
Day 3 was an action-packed affair which saw the demise of many a familiar name, the likes of David Williams, Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Archie Karas, Phil Laak and Jennifer Harman all hitting the bricks. Joe Cada won't be defended his title either, as he dropped half way through the day. One former Champion who could still add another trophy to the cabinet was Johnny Chan; he remained one of the chip leaders with circa 650,000 in chips, whilst the official chip daddy ended up being James Carroll with just over 800,000.
On the British front, we lost Jack Powell, Jake Cody, Kara Scott, Roland De Wolfe and the Devilfish, but can still cheer on the likes of Barny Boatman, Dan Carter, Josh Shipley, Mark Teltscher, Praz Bansi and JP Kelly, the latter in particular gathering speed as the day progressed and ultimately increasing his stack to over the 350,000 mark.
1,240 will be returning for Day 3, all of whom will be keeping a close eye on the screen as the inevitable bubble nears. Will our two Black Belt Poker Trojans dodge a potential wet T-shirt contest, or will they feel the full splash of the bubble? We'll find out tomorrow.
Previous WSOP Reports: Vegas Blog:
Employee of the Month
Fairytale Endings
Must Be Nice
Make Mine a Double
Blonde on Blonde
Summer of Sam
Chuft to Bits
Under the Radar
Taking Notice
BBP Braced for WSOP Main Event
WSOP Main Event - Day 1A
WSOP Main Event - Day 1B
WSOP Main Event - Day 1C
WSOP Main Event - Day 1D
WSOP Main Event - Day 2A
WSOP Main Event - Day 2B
May 23: My Old School Teacher
May 31: Welcome to America; Let the Institutionalising Begin
June 1: Pleasure & Pain
June 5: 100% British Beef
June 9: Alphabetti Spaghetti & Giant Meatballs
June 13: Colour Me Up
June 14: The Crying Game
June 20: Last Gasps
June 25: Dancing With the Devil
June 30: The End of a Streak
July 6: Tournament of Famous People
July 12: Running on Empty
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