Late last night, the money bubble at WPT LA Poker Classic finally burst with 63 players remaining when Arlo Dotson busted out as the unfortunate 64th place bubble boy. The chip leader at that point in the night was Jeremy Ausmus, who broke the million-chip mark with 1,014,000. Ausmus already has an impressive resume as he finished 5th in the WSOP Main Event last year and 18th at Season XI WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, so a deep run at this event comes as no surprise. Other notables among the top 10 chip counts include Eric Froehlich, Galen Hall, David Tuthill, and Paul Volpe.
Day 3 started with 17 WPT Champions Club members in the field with 7 making it to the money. Those left standing include Carlos Mortensen, Phil Laak, Noah Schwartz, Scott Clements, Joe Hachem, Scott Seiver, and John Hennigan. Those not left standing: Nick Schulman, Prahlad Friedman, Joe Tehan, Steve Brecher, Victor Ramdin, David Williams, Brandon Cantu, Jonathan Roy, Dwyte Pilgrim, Eli Elezra, and WPT Player of the Year Joe Serock.
Sam Razavi, who finished in third at the recent WPT National China, is still in the the field after Day 3 with more than 280k in chips. The top 3 finishers at that WPT National China event received a buy-in to WPT LA Poker Classic as part of a full package that included flight and accommodations. WPT Live Updates had a chance to catch up with Sam and talk to him about his experience in China and his experience in LA so far:
Although ClubWPT qualifier Zoltan Kovacs was eliminated yesterday, he has been hanging around and playing some of the side events. Two of his favorite players are Phil Hellmuth and Will Failla, so it only made sense that this happen:
The tournament resumes at Noon today with the average chip stack sitting at 246,190. Play will continue through five levels or down to 18 players, whichever comes first. Make sure to tune into WPT Live Updates for all of the action.