Photo Recap: Day 3 of WPT Festa al Lago

By BJ Nemeth

The bubble burst on Day 3 when the field reached 50 players, and play continued for another level or so to finish the day with 41. Here’s a look at the top 5 chip counts:

1. Steve O’Dwyer – 844,500 (140 bb)
2. Jeff Madsen – 814,000 (135 bb)
3. Randal Flowers – 795,500 (132 bb)
4. Andreas Hoivold – 632,500 (105 bb)
5. Jason Koon – 586,000 (97 bb)

And now, a photographic look back at Day 3 of the WPT Festa al Lago at Bellagio:

When the field reached 51 players, play shifted to hand-for-hand play on the money bubble, as the top 50 players would be guaranteed at least $12,896. Owen Crowe (center) was all in preflop against Gavin Smith (right), but they weren’t allowed to reveal their cards until action was completed at the other five tables. It took about five minutes before they were allowed to show their holecards, so let’s look at some other photos before returning to find out what they had.

David Williams (top right) ponders his decision when Chris Bjorin (far left) reraised all in preflop. Williams eventually folded, claiming A-Q, and Bjorin flashed his cards to Williams to prove he made a good lay down.

Maria Ho lost an all-in situation in the last hand of the first level, and left the tournament. But when the chip stacks were counted down, Maria still had 300 in chips — the size of a single ante. A few friends called her, but she didn’t get the message until the end of the break, and made it back to the room just in time to play the first hand — and win. That took her from 300 to 2,700 (a 9x increase), and she moved all in again on the next time — and quadrupled up to 11,000 (4.5 bb). Could she mount a comeback?

Around the same time that Maria Ho was crippled, Vanessa Selbst (standing, in dark blue) was eliminated by Jared Jaffee (standing, right). With the board showing [10h10s4dKs], Jaffee four-bet all in, and Selbst called with [Jc10c] for trip tens. But Jaffee turned over [4c4h] for a flopped full house, and it held up to win the pot. Jaffee continued his hot streak during the next level to take the chip lead for a while, and eventually finished the day with an above-average stack of 426,500 (71 bb).

Nearly an hour later, and Maria Ho was still surviving with her short stack. In this hand, Maria moved all in under the gun for 9,600, and was about to double up through recent WPT Legends of Poker winner Andy Frankenberger (not pictured) — Maria’s [Kc4c] made a flush against his [Kh2h]. That took Maria up over the 20,000-chip mark, and over the next hour she built it up to more than 40,000. Unfortunately, she eventually ran her A-Q into Gavin Smith’s K-K to double him up. (Gavin was on a shortstack comeback of his own.) Maria busted a few minutes later, ten spots away from the money.

Jeff Madsen was the tournament chipleader when hand-for-hand play began on the money bubble. Madsen carried the momentum through the end of the day, finishing second on the leaderboard with 814,000 (135 bb).

It’s probably not a surprise that Allen Kessler was one of the short stacks on the money bubble, though perhaps it should have been. Kessler began Day 3 with 18,700 (9 bb), and was in 97th place with 99 players remaining. Kessler not only reached the money, but he survived the day with 259,000 (43 bb).

As the money bubble continued, Thomas Marchese (right) played a pot against Daniel Alaei (foreground) as Mark Newhouse looked on. All three players survived the day in good shape — Alaei with 355,000 (59 bb), Marchese with 215,000 (35 bb), and Newhouse with 213,500 (35 bb).

The money bubble hasn’t fazed Lauren Kling, who is all smiles as she is about to clinch the second WPT cash of her young career. Jimmy Tran (right) is a veteran, about to pick up his 10th WPT cash dating back to the first season. Kling finished the day with 141,000 (23 bb), slightly ahead of Tran’s 123,500 (20 bb). With 41 players remaining, Kling is one of three women left (7.3% of the field).

Owen Crowe (pictured) was crippled on the money bubble after his A[s]K[s] ran into Brandon Steven’s A[c]A[h]. Crowe was knocked down to 15,000 in chips (3 bb), and all eyes turned to him as the most likely to burst the bubble.

Three hands after being crippled, Owen Crowe (center, standing) moved all in from late position, and Gavin Smith (right) moved all in over the top from the cutoff. Both players had to wait about five minutes before revealing their cards, so their hand wouldn’t affect action at the other five tables on the money bubble. When they could finally show their cards, Crowe turned over [Qd10c] to Gavin’s [AhKs]. Gavin Smith’s hand held up, and Owen Crowe became the unfortunate "bubble boy," finishing in 51st place.

Andreas Hoivold had a strong day to finish fourth on the leaderboard with 632,500 (105 bb).

As Day 3 came to an end, Steve O’Dwyer (left) and Randal Flowers were at the top of the leaderboard in first and third place, respectively. O’Dwyer was the only player to cross the million-chip mark on Day 3, but dropped a bit to finish the day with 844,500 (140 bb). Flowers finished with 795,500 (132 bb).

Day 4 begins tomorrow (Monday) at 12:00 noon PT, when the 41 survivors will battle it out to get closer to Wednesday’s televised WPT final table. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for continuing live coverage, including hand updates, frequent chip counts, and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.