It was Day 3 at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. In the second largest live poker tournament ever held, the WSOP Main Event has lived up to its hype. The day marked the first consolidated day of play. There were a whopping four Day Ones to accommodate the 6,800 players in attendance. These occurred last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday marked a break day and Tuesday and Wednesday hosted two Day Twos. Thursday marked Day 3, when the money bubble burst and the WSOP Main Event said goodbye to many of the poker stars you know and love. However, several well-known players were near the top of the leader board when the smoke cleared for the day. Let’s check out the action from Day 3 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.
There were 1,307 players who started playing on Day 3. Approximately 12 hours later, 474 players remained. If you’ve watched coverage of the WSOP on ESPN, you’ll remember that each broadcast has a “Feature Table” and a “Table Two.” If I had $1 for every time Lon McEachern said “Table Two” during the 2007 WSOP coverage, I would have a million dollars at the end of every episode. The feature table played host to 1987 and 1988 Main Event Champion Johnny Chan. He’s the namesake of ChanPoker.com and also mentored 2006 Main Event Champion Jamie Gold. Chan already has a $250,000 cash in a $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys tournament during the 2008 WSOP. He ended the day with 252,000 chips, a bit behind the 1.4 million chip stack of leader Jeremy Joseph.
Table Two of the Main Event on Day 3 featured Bodog pro Jean-Robert Bellande. If you’re a big reality show junkie, you’ll know that Bellande was the eighth place finisher in Survivor: China. He’s been successful in the 2008 WSOP, taking second in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament for $173,000. Online poker star Matt Graham defeated him heads up in Event 53, the last tournament before the Main Event started. Survivor Man finished Day 3 with 124,500 chips, in the lower quarter of participants.
2003 Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker was busted early when his A-J could not withstand his opponent’s 10-9. A ten hit the flop and Moneymaker never caught up. He was sent packing prior to the money bubble bursting. The PokerStars pro has been a non-factor since winning the Main Event in 2003. He has one cash in 2004, 2006, and 2007, failing to cash in 2005 or 2008. He’s had greater success on the World Poker Tour, finishing second in the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament during Season II for $200,000. He would not survive Day 3.
Others who busted on Day 3 included Scott Clements, Jennifer Harman, Full Tilt Poker pro Erik Seidel, Alex Kravchenko, Men “the Master” Nguyen, Mickey Appleman, Minh Nguyen, Toto Leonidas, Steve Zolotow, Nenad Medic, Chau Giang, and Farzad Rhouhani. Medic made the final table of the 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure on the WPT.
The money bubble burst at 11:30pm PT after 75 minutes of hand-for-hand dealing. This occurred when the tournament was nine players out of the money. How many hands were dealt during that 75 minute period? Nine. That has to be frustrating for all players in attendance, as every table was forced to wait for every other table to finish their hands before a new one could start. This includes time players take to contemplate whether to call or fold as well as any other delays that occur.
Stay tuned for more of the latest from the 2008 WSOP Main Event.