Day 4 Draw and Counts

Level 16: 2,000-4,000, 500 ante

ClubWPT Player of the Day: Antonio Esfandiari

Level 16: 2,000-4,000, 500 ante

Day 3 Ends: Antonio Esfandiari Leads the Final 60

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Day 3 at the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic saw the field play down close to the money bubble, but the bursting of that bubble (54 players) will have to wait until tomorrow. There were 60 players that made it through the day and we have a very interesting story developing.

Two years ago Antonio Esfandiari won this tournament. One year ago he made a run to the final table and took fourth place. At the end of Day 3 he is the chip leader with 918,500 and he is in a great position to three-peat final-table appearances at the WPT Five Diamond Main Event. In the biggest pot the tournament has seen so far Esfandiari eliminated Shawn Cunix in a set-over-set hand where Esfandiari held kings to best the deuces of Cunix.

It was another talent-laden tournament day here at Bellagio and there are a lot of big names near the top of the leader board to end the night. Freddy Deeb, Eddie Sabat, Noah Schwartz, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Brian Rast, John Hennigan, and Shawn Buchanan are all in strong position to make a deep run into the money on Friday.

There were also a lot of notables that didn’t make it through the day, and a sampling of those players include Michael Mizrachi, J.C. Tran, Scotty Nguyen, Sorel Mizzi, Barry Greenstein, Cornel Cimpan, Andy Frankenberger, Vanessa Selbst, Gavin Smith, and Joe Hachem.

Cards get back into the air at noon PT tomorrow and the plan is to play down to the final 27 players, although that stop point might be adjusted if that milestone is reached early in the day. Tune back in tomorrow for more live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos from Las Vegas. Stay tuned for official chip counts and a photo blog recap, which will be released later tonight.

Jason Koon Eliminated by Freddy Deeb

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Lost AK to Freddie Deebs 1010 for all of it. Good game

— Jason Koon (@JasonKoon) December 7, 2012

Five More Hands

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

The tournament clock has been stopped and the field was informed that they will play five more hands. There are 66 players that have survived according to the tournament clock.

Stay tuned as we will be collecting chip count information from the bag and tag and catching the final hands of the night, which will be posted soon. 

Chris DeMaci Doubles Thru Ty Reiman

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Chris DeMaci is all in preflop with A-5 against the 8-8 of Ty Reiman. The board brings a five-high straight for DeMaci to win the pot and double up in chips.

Chris DeMaci  -  90,000  (30 bb)
Ty Reiman  -  415,000  (138 bb)

The Twitternet: Going to Mexico

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

3bet Jman with AK and went bet/bet/jam on K high board and lose to AA. Then 88 into KK for the rest. Mexico tomorrow.

— Randal Flowers (@RandALLin) December 7, 2012

Late Night Busts

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Players that have busted near the end of Day 3 include Joe Serock, Randal Flowers, James Calderaro, Scotty Nguyen, Dee Friedman, and Carlos Mortensen. There are 66 players remaining as we head into the final minutes of the night.

ClubWPT VIP: Austin Grimes

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Austin Grimes (AustinRGrimes) has been a VIP member of ClubWPT for more than 18 months, and he sat down to tell us about his experiences with the site.

You can hit the tables with Austin and the rest of ClubWPT by signing up as a VIP member today. For just $19.95/month, you'll unlock full access to broadcast episodes of the WPT, along with the opportunity to play unlimited online poker in a safe, secure, legal environment.

Lichtenberger Eliminates Selbst

Level 15: 1,500-3,000, 500 ante

Busto. Reshoved my last 19BB but ran into @luckychewy's immortal nuts i.e. KQ!

— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) December 7, 2012