Black Belt Blog: Day 3: Three Is the Magic Number

During this morning's car journey over to the Rio, we surmised that, on average, three of our ten remaining Black Belt Poker soldiers would live to fight another day.

Well, we had an average day.

As the final whistle sounded, three BBP logos remained visible, and they belonged to Jamie Burland, David Docherty and online qualifier Greg Moore.

Greg finished the day with the most chips, his 286,500 comfortably above the 241,725 average and making him odds on to make the money and earn free entry into next year's $10,000 Main Event, courtesy of Black Belt Poker.

He started the day in tough company with high stakes pro Justin Bonomo two seats to his right, although Greg would ultimately come out on top. Greg reached a three-way Tc-7c-4c flop with the young online pro, and after it checked around, all the monies went in on the Jd turn, Bonomo drawing dead with J-T versus Greg's Jc-Js. This was a crucial pot for Greg that elevated him close to 300,000, whilst Bonomo would never truly recover and exited soon after.

Perhaps the happiest bunny, however, is Jamie Burland, who ended Day 1 with his starting stack, finished Day 2 with precisely his starting stack, but concluded Day 3 with more than his starting stack - 103,500 to be exact. The UKIPT Brighton Champion never had an all-in showdown, but managed to grind his way up to the century mark by carefully selecting his spots and picking up pots uncontested.

David, meanwhile, was on a full blown roller coaster ride. Initially dipping down to 100,000 after running K-K into A-A, and A-T into a short-stack's A-K, he refound his form after flat-calling a raise with A-K, and calling an all-in squeeze for 70,000. The aggressor tabled T-9 suited. Despite a buttock-clenching K-8-7 flop, the turn and river bricked out and enabled David to bag up a respectable 143,500.

Of course, three survivors meant there were seven casualties, the first of whom was Jeremy Rickard, who was one of 30 players to win entry via iPoker's Mega satellite. He departed on only the second hand of the day, A-K unable to improve against Q-Q. Nik Persaud was perhaps even quicker; he departed so sharply that nobody was on hand to witness his exit.

Fellow short-stack Neil Channing followed despite getting his 14,400 up to 40,000. He lost out with A-Q versus A-T when a second ten reared its head through the window. He was joined on the rail by UKIPT Cork Champion Sam Razavi - Q-Q no match for K-K in a chunky 210,000 pot. "Mexico it is," he smiled. "Might squeeze in LAPT Brazil as a consolation." It's a tough life, but someone's got to live it.

After Hasmukh Khodiyara hit the deck (A-7 versus 8-8), Ben Meredith became involved in a whopping 350,000 pot. A short-stack shoved for 54,000 from under the gun and Ben reshoved one seat down with Q-Q. Everything was peachy until another player reached for chips and moved all in too! He had A-K, the short stack 7-7 and the board dealt a cowboy on the turn. To say Ben was gutted would be like saying Villa fans were mildly disappointed to see Alex McLeish take the helm.

The final man to be stretched out of the Amazon Room was satellite qualifier Sean Fennessey, who, like Greg and Jeremy, was participating in his first Main Event to date. With the closing moments looming and flights booked for the following day, he decided to gamble by pushing all in from late position with J-9. He received a call from A-K, but was unable to spike one of his six outs and was free to pack his bags for his return journey home.

All ten players put in a fine performance to make Day 3, but when the dust had settled and the smoke cleared, only three will be returning for Day 4 with a chance of leaving with some booty in the palm of their hands. From an initial field of 6,865 (the third biggest live tournament in history), 1,864 commenced Day 3, and 852 emerged from the other side. As such, we're just 159 places away from the money.

Join us tomorrow to see if the three Black Belt Poker players can avoid the splash of one of the biggest bubbles in poker.

Follow the updates here from 12pm Vegas time...

Alex Rousso -- eliminated on Day 2A
Ben Meredith -- eliminated on Day 3
David Docherty -- 143,500
Gareth Alder -- eliminated on Day 2A
Greg Moore -- 286,500
Hasmukh Khodiyara -- eliminated on Day 3
Jamie Burland -- 103,500
Jeremy Rickard -- eliminated on Day 3
Jerome Bradpiece -- eliminated on Day 2A
Kevin Williams -- eliminated on Day 2A
Neil Channing -- eliminated on Day 3
Nik Persaud -- eliminated on Day 3
Owen Robinson - eliminated on Day 1D
Sam Razavi -- eliminated on Day 3
Sean Fennessey -- eliminated on Day 3
Tristan McDonald -- eliminated on Day 2A