The players in the Main event just took their first break of Day 3, and while they were away from the tables, we took the opportunity to put together a new leaderboard for the event, focusing on all players with stacks of greater than 2M in chips – double the average. The list was surprisingly long – but that’s what happens when players are eliminated relatively quickly on a tournament day – it leads to nice big stacks among the players who stay!

Beginning in just 15 minutes is Day 3 of the Main Event of the 2018 WSOP-C Playground. From the final tally of entries of 2,401, the tournament is now down to just 214 entries, and everyone is in the money (73 players have already cashed in the tourney). Play on Day 3 will again continue through 10 levels of 60 minutes each, and by the time the final cards are dealt today, the tournament should be withing striking distance of a final table.

The chip leader to start the day is Duc Tu Bui – a player who, like most of the rest of the top players by chip count today, spent most of Day 2 somewhat under the radar. He wasn’t part of any leaderboards during the day, and though he always seemed to have a decent stack to play, and only came to the front of the list during the last level yesterday evening. Benjamin Underwood had a similar trajectory, though in his case he benefited from a key double-up right before the bubble.

One player among the top stacks that had been there throughout the day is Michael Khan, who starts with 1.68M on Day 3. And looking to regain a spot near the top of the leaderboard today will be Eric Afriat and Noeung Troeung. Both of these players are master chip accumulators so it will be interesting to follow their journey today. Another player to watch today will be John Palmer. He spent most of the day on Day 2 with well under the average stack and it seemed like he might be content to tough it out to the bubble and take his cash. Instead, he begins Day 3 with a near top-10 stack.

Here are a few photos from the end of yesterday’s session featuring players we’ll see more of today.

When registration and re-entry closed on Day 2 of the Main Event in the 2018 WSOP-C Playground, there were 2,401 total entries, and at that time there were over 850 players still in the event. Over the next few levels that number went down all the way to the bubble at 238 players left and beyond into the money. By the end of 10 levels of play there were just 214 players left in the tournament, and they will return for Day 3 at 12:00pm on September 2nd.

There has been a full seating redraw, and when play resumes, the players will be seated according to the following table. Click or tap on a column heading to sort, or use the search box to find a name in the list.

After a full hour of play since the bubble burst, and with the end of the night in view, there have already been over 60 eliminations in the Main Event, bringing the field down to a very manageable 224 players as the tournament director made his announcement to play the final hands of the day. This has certainly come along with considerable chip-ups by some of the largest stacks, so when the final counts for Day 2 are released after Day 2 comes to a close, we should see some huge stacks that players will take to Day 3.

Two players in particular were very happy that the bubble didn’t play out any longer – Tomislav Pavkovic and Ken Stutz were both extremely short when the bubble arrived but were able to stay alive just long enough to get into the money before the blinds came back around to them.

The bubble has burst in the Main Event of the 2018 WSOP-C Playground. The payout schedule, released today after registration closed at the beginning of level 13, called for 287 players to be paid in the tournament, with a min-cash of $2,250. With a few tables still active in the Tournament Tent, and to make sure hand-for-hand play proceeded in an absolutely fair manner, the clock was paused with 290 players remaining. A table was broken to take the tournament down to 29 tables with exactly 10 players each. Before that could happen – in the last hand played when the clock was paused – a player was eliminated in the Tournament Hall to take it to 289 players.

Then hand-for-hand play began, with the clock paused on 26 minutes remaining in level 19. On the second hand of hand-for-hand play, one player was eliminated in the Tent, bringing the field to 288 players – the stone bubble. Play continued one hand at a time, with tournament staff in the Hall coordinating via walkie-talkie with the Tent, and on the 5th hand total, the fateful hand arrived.

When we arrived at the table, there were two players all in – Sebastien Labbe and Mario Lepine. Hal Rotholz, who only had to contribute another 20K to the 100K+ he had already bet in the hand, was just delaying to make the call knowing that the action was paused until the action was complete on all other tables. He was never folding, clearly, and after a few seconds he made the call. Mario and Sebastien were both shorter-stacked that Hal – he could have taken them both out – and Mario was significantly shorter than Sebastien.

There was also an all in and a call on another table, and once it was clear that these were the only two tables left to settle their hands, the dealers were asked to proceed. First thing – on the other table, the short-stack doubled up. And on the table in question, all hands were exposed:

Sebastien:
Mario:
Hal:

The board, once it was run, was almost anti-climactic – . Sebastien’s Kings held, Mario was eliminated on the bubble, and Hal shipped some chips over to Sebastien… and everyone was in the money!

Congratulations to all!