Day Three - Monday at 12pm EST

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

Day Three takes place on Monday at 12pm EST. Catch all the action at WorldPokerTour.com; the official Live Updates site of the World Poker Tour.

Day 2 Recap

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

We started the day with 212 players. Now, barely a quarter of them are left. Fifty-six players survived the massacre today. That’s fewer players than were eliminated in level six, when fifty-nine early risers went straight back to bed. Our chip leader is Casey Griswold. Griswold was the beneficiary of a crucial ruling that forced his opponent to call after saying “I’m definitely going to call. I may even raise.” The screw up allowed Casey to flop a flush with K4 and crack his opponent’s aces. It was the second time he cracked aces today. Joining Griswold on the leader board are cash-game pro Amnon Filippi, tournament veteran Ted Lawson, “Caveman” Peter Chabot, young gun Steve Sung and day one chip leader Yariv Levi. Chau Giang, John Hennigan and Nam Le are amongst the biggest names still in, while Bobby Bellande survived the day and Kirk Morrison has just enough chips to go for his third cash in our last three events. Monday, we re-convene for another five levels of play, once again at noon EST. This thing is running verrrrry smooooothly. Check back Monday for all the details as we crash the money bubble and keep on going. Have a good night.

Bannister Busts Before Play Ends

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

Rick Bannister has been on a free fall during the last level of play, and he has gone on full blown tilt. Opponents have been eager to call him, as shown in this hand: On a flop of AKJ Bannister bets out T30,000 under the gun. His opponent makes the call from the button. "Thats an overbet, isn't it?" "I've got enough," Bannister sternly replies. The turn card is the 10 and Bannister open pushes for T120,000. "Why would you do that?" Asks Bannister's opponent. "Did you hit the flush, or the straight?" At this point Bannister gets up from the table and stares back at his adversary with the patented stone-faced expression he has made infamous throughout the day. "The bet is to you!" Bannister shouts back at him. The table exchanges glances as the button continues to ponder his move. A crowd of reporters, players, and tournament staff begin to accumulate as Bannister paces back and forth. "Floor!" Bannister screams, and continues to do so as he calls the clock on his opponent. "Fine, I call," says the button, and he flips over the AQ. Bannister screams and curses, and the tournament director informs him he will have to calm down, or he will receive a penalty. Bannister nods his head, and throws his cards at his opponent face-up. As everyone shares a look of shock, the two cards land on the felt, showing 72. "That's a ten-hand penalty sir," says the tournament director. "It's fine, he won't be around for more than 30 seconds after that donkey play." The dealer flips over the 7 on the river as Bannister starts to lunge at his opponent and...Poooooof! Just like that Rick Bannister is gone! April Fools! Hope you enjoyed our tournament coverage version of Kaiser Soze on this mischievous holiday.

"Cardinal Sin of Poker - Never Pay Off a Great Player"

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

Jean-Robert Bellande raises from early position and is called by Chau Giang in the small blind. The flop comes A65. Chau bets T6,000 and Bellande calls. The turn is the 2 and both players check. The river is the 8. Chau bets T16,000 and Bellande says "The cardinal sin of poker - never pay off a great player" but calls anyway. Chau shows 97 for the nuts and Bellande mucks his hand.

News and Notes

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

- Kirk Morrison appears to be ready to cash again. Kirk made the money in both Reno and San Jose after bubbling in LA. If he makes the money here, his three consecutive cashes will tie him with Barry Greenstein and Bill Edler for the second most consecutive cashes ever, behind Daniel Negreanu's four. - From Bobby Bellande; "I've been playing so good today, but I just can't catch a break!" Curt Kohlburg, who'd been pounding on Bellande all day, just got eliminated. Looks like JR will survive to see day three. - If Amnon Filippi keeps this up, JC Tran may have to cut his exodus short. Nam Le is still in this thing too, and if he were to survive to the final table, you'd think JC would have to make the trip out. - Amnon owed Gavin Smith $2,000 coming into the day, but he won a last longer bet with the WPT Player of the Year for $1,000. "We're even!" Gavin called as he stormed the room in his usual fashion. "No we aren't" Amono replied, "I still owe you a thousand." In typical Gavin fashion, the Canadian shrugged and said "OK, you keep track. I'm not good at math."

Video Blog: Day Two Almost Over

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

Curt Kohlberg is Eliminated

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

Curt Kohlberg pushes his remaining T35,000 with 810. Steve Sung calls and flips over two dueces. The board misses Kohlberg's suited connectors and he is eliminated.

Curt Kohlburg Busts

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

After being amoungst the chip leaders on Day 1'A' Curt Kohlburg has busted with only 23 minutes left in the last level of the day.

Myung Busts

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

After hanging tough for the last few hours with a short stack, John Myung has been eliminated from the tournament.

News and Notes

Level 6: 150,000-300,000, 30,000 ante

- We've lost an amazing 150 players today, with only sixty-three still standing. We've still got forty minutes left to play, so we'll probably be in the low fifties by the end of the day. - With regards to my earlier post on Jean-Robert Bellande, it should be said that he doesn't have a malicious bone in his body. One player told me "When he makes backing agreements, he really believes he's going to make the guy money." Bellande has had a rough day, but he just won a pot to survive. - Rick Bannister is leaking in a major way. He's playing every pot, making loose calls and punding on the table with every loss. The players at his table seem divided on whether they want to be around this frothing maniac: He's a major agitation, but they might as well divide his chips up now if he doesn't adjust his attitude quickly.