WPT Legends of Poker, Day 3 Recap

Level 23: 10,000-20,000, 3,000 ante

By BJ Nemeth


The WPT Legends of Poker burst the money bubble on Day 3, though there wasn't a bubble in the usual sense. With 84 players remaining, three players busted out within a couple of minutes, and by the time action was stopped, there were 81 players left -- all of them in the money.

Though Day 3 was "Money Day," there were plenty of other storylines in the field. Here's a look back at some highlights from Day 3:



Day 3 started with 99 players, and action moved out of the tournament room and into the high-stakes cash game area so the WPT set could be built for Tuesday's televised final table.



Before play began on Day 3, the Royal Flush Girls taped a segment on the "Live at the Bike" set. Melissa Fisher (left) and Melyssa Grace both react as Sunisa Kim moves all in on the turn with the board showing A6510.



Dylan Hortin was one of the early eliminations on Day 3. This was the 21-year-old's first WPT event in the United States, though he did cash at the WPT Spanish Championship in Barcelona, Spain two years ago.



Keith Kozar chats with Royal Flush Girls Melyssa Grace (left) and Melissa Fisher after winning an early pot on Day 3. Kozar would reach the money, finishing in 23rd place to earn $14,135 in his first WPT event.



Dan O'Brien signs some paperwork at the payout desk after busting out in 69th place.



Brent Hanks is part of "Team Mercier," a small group of young players headlined by Jason Mercier who have been on a strong run lately. Hanks finished the day 14th in chips, but has his eyes on the televised final table.



Royal Flush Girls Sunisa Kim (left) and Melyssa Grace were sweating the action of J.C. Tran (seated, right), and Tran joked that Kessler wondered why the girls were more interested in Tran even though Kessler had more chips.



Before today, the most recent WSOP Main Event champion to ever cash in a WPT event was 2005 champ Joe Hachem, who has six WPT cashes and a WPT title under his belt. Jamie Gold, the 2006 WSOP Main Event champion, gives his thoughts to the WPT cameras after his first WPT cash, finishing 67th.



Shortly before play resumed after dinner, one of the nearby cash game tables cheered and attracted a crowd after winning the Bicycle Casino's bad beat jackpot -- straight flush over straight flush.



As you can see, the bad beat jackpot was won on a board of 76552. There were actually three players in the pot -- 98 for top straight flush, 43 for bottom straight flush, and AJ (not pictured) for the ace-high flush.



Mike Eskandari (left) counts his own chips as he faces a raise from Owais Ahmed. Eskandari was the chipleader in the middle of the day, and the first player to reach 2 million in chips.



The last woman standing is Christina Lindley, who finished Day 3 with 229,000 -- 21st in chips with 21 players left. Lindley was low on chips throughout Day 3, using her "short-stack ninja" skills to navigate the field.



J.C. Tran, who won the WPT Player of the Year award in Season V, was eliminated 39th in a cooler situation when he ran pocket kings into pocket aces. Tran quickly disappeared and left Allen Kessler (left) and Billy Bey (right) to contemplate what happened.



Tyler Cornell, sporting a classic "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" t-shirt, survived the day with 470,000 -- about half the average stack. Cornell finished 11th in this event last year, and would obviously like to improve upon that.



Dwyte Pilgrim sits down for an interview with WPT Live Updates hostess Jess Welman. Pilgrim was eliminated late in the day in 33rd place, but is ready to defend his WPT Borgata title next month.



Allen Kessler was crippled when he ran bottom two pair into Dan Natarelli's top pair after the flop. Natarelli caught trips on the turn to knock Kessler down to a single big blind.

Kessler actually started a bit of a comeback, until he got it all in preflop with 98 against Tuan Nguyen's AQ. Kessler took the lead on the flop, but lost to a runner-runner straight on a board of K8210J to bust out in 28th place.



With the board showing AJ75 on the turn, Billy Bey (right) moved all in against Ray Henson. Henson studied Bey for a couple of minutes before folding, saying "I feel like you have eight-nine of hearts."



Will "The Thrill" Failla was named the ClubWPT.com Player of the Day as he earned the eighth cash of his WPT career. Failla hopes that this event will mark his first televised WPT final table.


Day 3 came to an end with 21 players. Here are the official seating assignments and chip counts:

TABLE 1
Seat 1. Derek Palmer - 436,000 (21 BBs)
Seat 2. Jeff Vertes - 2,712,000 (135 BBs)
Seat 3.
Seat 4. Shawn Buchanan - 1,343,000 (67 BBs)
Seat 5. Brent Hanks - 746,000 (37 BBs)
Seat 6. Ken Aldridge - 1,541,000 (77 BBs)
Seat 7. Owais Ahmed - 1,134,000 (56 BBs)
Seat 8.
Seat 9. David Tuthill - 683,000 (34 BBs)

TABLE 2
Seat 1.
Seat 2. Ray Henson - 902,000 (45 BBs)
Seat 3. Billy Bey - 780,000 (39 BBs)
Seat 4. Rich McGee - 600,000 (30 BBs)
Seat 5. Will Failla - 1,450,000 (72 BBs)
Seat 6. Tyler Cornell - 470,000 (23 BBs)
Seat 7. Mike Eskandari - 1,597,000 (79 BBs)
Seat 8.
Seat 9. Christina Lindley - 229,000 (11 BBs)


TABLE 3
Seat 1. Zachary Fahmie - 418,000 (20 BBs)
Seat 2.
Seat 3. James Carroll - 1,900,000 (95 BBs)
Seat 4.
Seat 5. Joshua Pollock - 1,645,000 (82 BBs)
Seat 6. Matt Kay - 963,000 (48 BBs)
Seat 7. Adam Aronson - 1,082,000 (54 BBs)
Seat 8. Dan Heimiller - 331,000 (16 BBs)
Seat 9. David Daneshgar - 1,850,000 (92 BBs)

Day 4 begins Monday at 1:00 pm PT. Stay tuned to WPT.com for live coverage throughout the day.