Kevin MacDonald has been quite active on this final table, however most of the times that he put chips into the pot, they never came back… until this last hand that is! He opened to 125,000 from the hijack and went heads-up to the flop with Robert Johnson, who was sitting on the button.

With the board showing , he fired a continuation-bet of 105,000, and was faced with a raise to 305,000. He opted for the 3bet shove, and pushed his 925,000 stack into the middle. Robert made the call, and the players tabled their hands.

Kevin:
Robert:

Kevin’s flopped set would have most hands drawing very slim on this board, however Robert had 9 outs to catch the nut flush. The running cards were the and the , and Kevin’s set held on to double him up to over 2 million. Robert still holds a little more than a million after the hand, but now finds himself on the short end of the leaderboard.

Kevin MacDonald

Cong Son Dao has either changed gears, or picked up a string of big hands, as he just 3bet an opponent for the third hand in a row facing a preflop open. In all three cases, the original raiser let go of their cards, awarding the pot to Cong – who chipped up over 1 million in the process.

Half a level remains before the end of Day 3.

Cong Son Dao

Chanracy opened the action from under the gun with a raise to 105,000, and was followed by a call from Kevin (utg +1) and Cong (hijack). Eric then pulled a squeeze play by moving all-in for 1,145,000 from the small blind, which forced Chanracy out of the hand. Kevin isolated by going all-in himself, bringing this hand down to heads-up.

Eric:
Kevin:

Eric spiked three-of-a-kind on the board, and celebrated by saying “I need another beer!”. He now holds roughly 2.5 million, while Kevin dropped to a hair above 1 million.

Eric Aucoin (KJ) doubles through Kevin MacDonald (88)

Chanracy Khun has been battling against the forces of unconventional poker for several levels today, and his stack had taken somewhat of a beating along the way. Although the stack sizes on the final table are in a fairly snug range between 1M and 2.6M, Chanracy had the smallest stack and needed to double to regain some hope of a first place prize.

Well just moments ago he found the double up he needed against Eric Aucoin. Eric opened the action to 120K and Chanracy re-raised all-in – Eric made the call.

Chanracy:
Eric:

The board ran out safely for Chanracy and he managed a full double.

Update

Just a couple of hands later, Chanracy took another 600K pot from Eric, so just like that Chanracy is the chip leader in the tournament. He is now up to 2,850,000 while Eric has dropped to 1,500,000.

Chanracy Khun

Xin Qi has been eliminated in 12th place, leaving the tournament just one elimination away from the final table.

Xin started the day strong but had been nurturing a small stack for at least the past 2 levels, and doing so on a wild and unconventional table. His final hand of the day was a blind-on-blind affair.

Action folded around to Azim Popatia in the small blind, and he raised to 100K. Xin insta-shoved from the big blind – and Azim called just as quickly.

Azim:
Xin:

Azim was ahead from the get-go and the on the flop just cemented his position. Then the turn and river came and sealed the deal, and Xin hit the rail.

12th place: Xin Qi, $8,720

Xin Qi