The remaining 83 players sat down at high noon on Monday for Day 3 in the $3,500 Main Event at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open. After 20 levels of play, it was Lucian Silveira with the only stack over two million.
The tournament’s 1,447 entries burst the bubble on Sunday night to pay the top 181 runners a min-cash of $5,700. The returning survivors will battle it out this week for the top prize of $752,500 from a prize pool of $4,630,400.
Matt Bond trailed in second and the venerable Jerry Wong bagged the third-highest stack. Eric Zheng and Rayan Chamas rounded out the top five.
The ascent of Chad Eveslage and the ouster of Alex Foxen and Brian Altman are among the early storylines on Day 3.
WPT RRPO End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | City | State/Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucian Silveira | Gardena | CA | 2,070,000 |
| 2 | Matt Bond | Austin | TX | 1,935,000 |
| 3 | Jerry Wong | Davie | FL | 1,785,000 |
| 4 | Eric Zheng | Maple Grove | MN | 1,770,000 |
| 5 | Rayan Chamas | Montreal | QC | 1,760,000 |
| 6 | Robert Kennedy | Ocala | FL | 1,725,000 |
| 7 | Kyle Julius | Naperville | IL | 1,645,000 |
| 8 | Istvan Briski | Biatorbagv | Hungary | 1,615,000 |
| 9 | Diego Paulo Uez | Caxias Du Sol | Brazil | 1,595,000 |
| 10 | Maksim Pisarenko | Moscow | Russia | 1,540,000 |
The Champions Club is in the Hunt
Just outside the top ten was Foxen, winner of the WPT Five Diamond Classic in 2019. He bagged 1,450,000 to finish just outside the top ten in pursuit of a second spot on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
Foxen was joined on Day 3 by fellow Champions Club members Darryll Fish, Chance Kornuth, and Alessio Isaia, as well as Players of the Year Anthony Zinno, Altman, and Eveslage
Also among the Day 3 returnees were Adam Hendrix, Boris Kolev, and Florida grinder Justin Zaki.
Early Day 3 Highlights; Eveslage on the Move
The first two levels of the day saw 34 players hit the rail, including Altman, who fell in 72nd place when he whiffed on a bluff against Eric Zheng. The misfire left Altman with just a couple of big blinds, and he was out on the next hand when Zheng finished the job. Foxed also ran out of luck and got it in with jack-nine against Rishi Makkar, but Makkar held on with pocket fours to finish Foxen’s tournament in 60th place.
Sandy Sanchez was one of the big early movers on Day 3, thanks to a massive double through Zhang. Sanchez made a big call on the turn with pocket eights and dodged Zheng’s flush draw to cross the two-million mark. Istvan Briski also made his move and he was on top of the counts when the clock ticked to zero on the second level of the day. Not to be outdone, Eveslage added his name to the two-million chip club after he rivered a flush to end Jared Hemingway’s run.
Norbert Szecsi bowed out in the first level of the day out after a clash with Zinno, while Kornuth was eliminated in 68th.
Also cashing out early were the likes of Yuval Bronshtein, Gal Yifrach, and Hendrix.
The plan for Day 3 is to play down to the final 16 players with the final two tables schedule to play down to the WPT Final Table of six on Tuesday. That final table will jump off on Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time, with livestream coverage provided by WPT.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live coverage from the $3,500 Main Event at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open.
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Live Reporting Executive
Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL