Mandalay Bay Poker Championship (Day Three)
After eight hours of play, 18 players remain in contention for the million dollar first prize at the WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship. The top two chip leaders from Day Two remained in the top five, with Joe Tehan being the only player holding over a million in chips. Yesterday's chip leader, Brad "Yukon" Booth is solidly in third chip position. Sandwiched between these players is Alex Outhred, a Super Satellite qualifier who is already guaranteed the best cash of his career.Day Three began out of the money, so getting into the cash was on the mind of several of the short stacks. It took less than thirty minutes to lose the last six players, with Danny Smith from Sacramento crashing out on the bubble when his Jacks were knocked out by the A-8 off held by Alex Outhred. Don't feel too sorry for Smith. With a third place in this spring's WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars tourney and a first in a Bellagio $1k buy-in tourney, we'll see more of him in the future.
The next four hours cut the field in half to three tables, with Harry Demetriou, Hasan Habib, Max Pescatori, David Oppenheim, Patrik Antonius, Erik Seidel, and Kristy Gazes heading for the rail.
Antonius had a tough end to his day when his outs hit on the turn. On a board of Kh-10s-7s-3s, Antonius held Qs-4s and bet $12,000. Joe Tehan raised to $37,000 with Antonius calling. The 2d popped off on the river, Tehan bet $40,000, and Antonius shoved the last of chips into the pot. Tehan called with the nuts, flipping over As-5s and sending Antonius home.
John Juanda was caught moving all-in after Chad Brown had raised from the button. Brown insta-called with Q-Q to Juanda's 10-9 which didn't improve, and Juanda was out in 27th place.
John's chips didn't last long with Brown as Brown went up against Tom Koral. With a pre-flop raise of $25,000 by Koral, Brown called with As-Qc. The flop brought Kd-10d-8s and Koral led out with another $25,000 bet which Brown called. The 9s came on the turn, with both players checking. The Ad hit on the river, and Koral under-bet the pot for another $25,000 bet. Brown pushed all-in for close to $100,000 more, and Koral's pocket 8's ended Brown's day.
Tuan Le's day crashed and burned in a brutal fashion, with the former two-time WPT winner's Kc-Kh vs. Miami John Cernuto's Ad-Kd. With all the chips in the pot pre-flop, the turn brought the dreaded Ace for Cernuto, sending Le home in 23rd place.
Toward the end of the evening, Brad Boutin and Keith Tilston traded chips on two all-in hands. Boutin doubled through with Ah-Kd vs. Tilston's Ad-2h. A few hands later, Brad Booth raised $35,000, Tilston went all-in for close to $150,000, and Boutin came over-the-top for over $200,000. Booth folded, and Tilston looked like his day was over with his As-Jd heads-up vs. Boutin's pocket kings. The flop came Ad-Jc-5s, Tilston took down a big pot, and Boutin would be crippled and short stacked on Day Four.
The day ended with Ron Faltinsky leaving in 19th place. Faltinsky is a veteran tourney pro who consistently cashes. His day ended with Koral's As-Kc taking out Faltinsky's Ac-Qh. All-in pre-flop, Faltinsky hit almost all he could ask for with a flop of Qd-Jh-8s, but the turn of the 10h ended everyone's day, giving Koral the straight.
Day Four kicks off with the following 18 players:
- Joe Tehan (1,056,000)
- Alex Outhred (902 k)
- Brad Booth (721 k)
- Tom Koral (590 k)
- Mike Landers (531 k)
- John Cernuto (397 k)
- Michael Woo (389 k)
- Tim Phan (388 k)
- Keith Tilston (293 k)
- Eriberto Soto (271 k)
- Gioi Luong (245 k)
- Carlos Mortensen (243 k)
- Tony Ma (187 k)
- Gary Maresh (159 k)
- Steve Vincent (156 k)
- Al Stonum (136 k)
- Shunjiro Uchida (128 k)
- Burt Boutin (92 k)
The final two tables are packed with grizzled tourney veterans and young pros. They'll play down to the WPT final table of six, and PokerWorks will give you the recap of Wednesday's action.
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