Matias Ruzzi opened to 47,000 only to have Loni Harwood three-bet the cutoff to 105,000. With the action on Kitty Kuo on the button, she moved all in for 266,000 to force Ruzzi's cards into the muck before Harwood called.
Harwood:
Kuo:
It would be another flip here on Day 3, and when the dealer fanned out a board, Kuo was out in 17th place as Harwood stormed up the leaderboard.
Jeffrey Johnston limped in from middle position only to have Heath Mendelsohn three-bet to 62,000 from the cutoff. With the action on Mike Watson on the button he cold four-bet to 116,000 as the action passed back to Johnston.
Johnston paused for a few moments before making it 266,000 to force Mendelsohn out of the pot as Watson pushed all in for 678,000 and Johnston called.
Johnston:
Watson:
With Watson looking at a 1.4 million-chip pot, the board ensured he claimed the chip lead as Johnston was left crippled with less than a big blind.
Joshua Schoonover moved all in for his last 33,000 from under the gun and both David Vamplew and Diego Zeiter made the call as the dealer fanned a flop.
Both players checked as the landed on the turn and Zeiter bet out 45,000 to force Vamplew to toss his cards into the muck.
Schoonover:
Zeiter:
With Schoonover drawing dead, the on the river sealed the deal and sent him out in 22nd place as Zeiter moved to 587,000 in chips.
Peter Males opened to 41,000 from the small blind only to have Humberto Brenes three-bet jam all in. Males quickly called and the cards were tabled.
Brenes:
Males:
The board would see Brenes lose the race, and when each player's stack was broken down it was deemed that Brenes had 370,000 - roughly 25,000 less then Males - and would consequently be sent to the rail in 23rd place.
Catching the action on the flop of we found Steve Bartlett checking over to Robert Hwang who bet out 45,000. Bartlett responded by check-raising to 100,000 only to have Hwang move all in for 215,000. Bartlett called and the cards were tabled.
Bartlett:
Hwang:
The turn and river landed the and to see Hwang sent to the rail in 24th place as Bartlett climbed to 690,000 in chips.
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and the 2013 World Series of Poker for Day 3 of Event #53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em!
Three days ago 2,816 players took to the felt spread throughout three rooms here in the Rio Convention Center, and now after 21 hours of intense poker action just 25 players remain all eyeing the $665,397 first prize. Although already guaranteed $19,046, people's goals will set firstly on making that elusive WSOP final table, and chip leader Jonathan Cohen is in the best shape to do so after bagging an impressive 1,378,000 in chips.
Snapping on his heels however is Sebastian Pauli (897,000) while notable pros Mike Watson (707,000), David Vamplew (697,000) and Tyron Krost (596,000) round out the top ten. Throw in the energetic Humberto Brenes (286,000) and the aggressive Kitty Kuo (308,000), and this will definitely be a fun day of poker.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand for the entirety of the day providing continuous live updates of all the final day action as we play down from 25 to the Event 53 Champion! The action kicks off at 2 p.m. local Las Vegas time, so stay tuned for all the action live from the 2013 World Series of Poker!