Day 3 of the WPT $25,000 World Championship is under wraps, and 98 players returned at their shot for the big money. At the start of the day blinds were 1,200-2,400 with a 300 ante, and the average stack was around 200,000. It has been determined that the top 18 players will get paid.
Beth Shak has been stirring up a little bit of commotion. She has a television crew following her around for a German reality t.v. show. Apparently, the show is about rich and famous people. The crew has popped in and out to catch Shak in action at the poker tables. Unfortunately, Shak was eliminated from the tournament early in the day. She tried to make a move with Q Q on a board with overs. After jamming on the turn, she was insta called by her opponent Joshua Gould who had flopped a set of kings.
One lady who isn’t going home any time soon is Heather Sue Mercer. She seems to be quite an intimidating force at the table with her stone cold gaze and invisible tells. It is very hard to get a read on her. Ralph Perry found this out the hard way. He had raised on the button to 38,000 and Mercer in the small blind reraised to 100,000. Perry took a long time to consider before making it just over 300,000 total. Mercier moved all in putting Perry at risk for his chips. He made the call. Mercer turned over Ah Kd which dominated Perry’s As Js. The board ran out Ad Qd Ts 4c 5s to send Perry packing.
It is nice to know that even though there is a lot of money on the line at this event, that the players can still retain a sense of humor. Hellmuth has been wearing a Celtic looking green vest for the last two days. Dave “Devil Fish” Ulliott took noticed and asked Hellmuth, “Did your grandfather die and leave you some clothes?”
Not long after this comment, “Devil Fish” was put to a decision for all of his chips. On a Qd 8s Jd Th 3d board, “Devil Fish” made a bet of 175,000. Todd Terry wasted little time in putting “Devil Fish” all in. “Devil Fish” made the call sliding in his remaining 139,500 into the pot. Terry turned over Ac Kh against the 5d 6d of “Devil Fish” who hit a river flush for the win.
As Day 3 of the WPT World Championship drew to a close there were 35 players left. Every player that makes it to the money is guaranteed $47,033, and first place is a respectable $1,530,537.
Some of the players that did not survive Day 3 included John Juanda, Freddie Deeb, Justin Young, Shawn Cunix, Ralph Perry, and Lee Markholt. Players to look forward to hearing about at Day 4 include David Benyamine, Eric Baldwin, Carlos Mortensen, Faraz Jaka, Josh Arieh, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.
Shawn Buchanan will be the chip leader going into Day 4 with 1,841,500. Heather Sue Mercer in second in chips with 1,364,500. Chris Moore and Tony Cousineau have some work to do tomorrow, as both players are sitting with less than 150,000 in chips. Stay tuned for more updates from the WPT $25,000 World Championship Event.
The top ten chip counts from the end of Day 3 are:
1. Shawn Buchanan – 1,841,000
2. Heather Sue Mercer – 1,364,000
3. Robert Cooper – 937,000
4. Matt Stout – 919,500
5. Billy Baxter – 887,500
6. Faraz Jaka – 856,000
7. Todd Terry – 817,500
8. Phil Hellmuth – 806,500
9. David Williams – 757,000
10. David Benyamine – 731,000
