With about 270,000 in the pot, Farid Jattin had 140,000 in front of him in the big blind. The board read and Jattin was considering an all-in shove from small blind Blair Hinkle. Jattin used two time extensions and called for around 800,000.
Blair Hinkle:
Farid Jattin:
Both had pairs and straight draws but Hinkle was the one in need of improvement. The river was the and Hinkle shook Jattin's hand and wished everyone good luck. Jattin dragged one of the biggest pots yet and rocketed past the 3 million mark.
Picking up the action on the turn with around 350,000 already in the middle, the board read . Jason Koonce led out for 225,000 from the big blind and Mustapha Kanit called from the button. The river was the and Koonce quickly shoved all in, putting Kanit to the test for his remaining 515,000 chips. The Italian thought for a minute but eventually, let his hand go.
In the very next hand, Christoph Vogelsang moved all in for 335,000 in early position and Kanit also ripped all in for 515,000 in the cutoff. Koonce looked down at his cards in the small blind and re-shoved all in as well.
Jason Koonce:
Mustapha Kanit:
Christoph Vogelsang:
Koonce was in line for another massive pot heading his way and the flop of left him well out front. The on the turn gave Vogelsang a straight draw but the on the river gave Koonce the double knockout and a massive stack of chips.
It wasn't a mistake: There were three Greenwoods in the counts. And eventually, the same three Greenwoods will appear in the payouts.
The brothers Greenwood - Sam, Luc and Max - have all had high levels of success in poker, combining for $16.7 million in live cashes between them. While Sam and Luke continue on the full-time grind though, Max has mostly left the game behind for the past 2.5 years.
Here in the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Players Championship, the three are reunited for a rare tournament, and the family is putting together a solid run. Find out what they had to say about it here on the PokerNews homepage.
Talal Shakerchi raised it up to 65,000 in the cutoff and Kristen Bicknell pushed all in for 505,000 out of the small blind. Shakerchi asked for a quick count and then flicked in a chip to call.
Kristen Bicknell:
Talal Shakerchi:
Bicknell was in a dominated position but was still hopeful of getting her chips back. "Chop?" she asked politely.
The flop came and Shakerchi still held a commanding lead. However, the on the turn gave Bicknell exactly what she was looking for with a pair of tens. The on the river secured the double up for Bicknell in order to stay alive.
The biggest $25K tournament in poker history is down to just five tables, as 38 players remain in contention for the $5.1 million first-place prize at the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship.
Leading the way into Day 4 will be a pair of direct buy-ins from opposite sides of the Atlantic, all but deadlocked at the top of the counts. American Scott Baumstein and the U.K.'s Yiannis Liperis bagged 4,240,000 and 4,210,000, respectively, making them the only players north of 4 million heading into the penultimate day of the event.
"It feels good," Baumstein said of the position he's in. "This is definitely a good tournament to run well in.
"I was chipping up pretty much all day. I lost an all-in near the end then made a run at it and won a big flip versus Farid [Jattin]. I was actually surprised he was as strong as he was, but it worked out for me."
The flip in question occurred in Level 23 (15,000/30,000/30,000). Baumstein made it 75,000 in the cutoff and the start-of-day leader three-bet to 320,000 out of the big blind. Baumstein came back with 775,000 and Jattin ripped it in for just under 2 million.
Baumstein called with queens and got a fairly easy hold against ace-king as nothing on the board materialized to threaten him.
"I was sweating that flip pretty hard," he admitted with a smile. "That was a big one. From what I understood, it was the biggest pot of the tournament."
As for Liperis, he got there on a big combo draw against the top two pair of Yan Li to move over 1.8 million. Then, he hit another nut flush after calling a sizable turn bet against Jonathan West, who couldn't find a fold on the river with a hand that never got shown down despite a river shove and a call.
Meanwhile, nine Platinum Pass winners still remain in the field heading into Day 4. While Mikita Badziakouski — he of over $20 million in live cashes — advancing is hardly a Cinderella story, there are still several players for whom a $5.1 million payday would hardly seem imaginable.
Mikita Badziakouski is trending toward another big payday.
Ramon Colillas, Adrian Samu, Atanas Pavlov, Marc Rivera, Michael Roboniek and Jacqueline Burkhart all have $100,000 or less in live cashes and would make positively Moneymaker-esque stories were they to ship the PSPC.
Day 3 also saw the money bubble burst early on, and nearly 150 have already cashed payout tickets. Bill Perkins, Dylan Linde, Christoph Vogelsang, Ryan Riess and all three of Sam, Luc and Max Greenwood were among those getting paid.
The remaining 38 players gather for Day 4 at noon local time on Wednesday. Play continues at 25,000/50,000/50,000 with the plan to play to at least eight players, possibly longer if time allows. Come back to PokerNews to find who those few will be.
and Jattin was considering an all-in shove from small blind Blair Hinkle. Jattin used two time extensions and called for around 800,000.
and Hinkle shook Jattin's hand and wished everyone good luck. Jattin dragged one of the biggest pots yet and rocketed past the 3 million mark.
. Jason Koonce led out for 225,000 from the big blind and Mustapha Kanit called from the button. The river was the 
and Koonce quickly shoved all in, putting Kanit to the test for his remaining 515,000 chips. The Italian thought for a minute but eventually, let his hand go.
left him well out front. The 
on the river gave Koonce the double knockout and a massive stack of chips.
and Shakerchi still held a commanding lead. However, the 
on the river secured the double up for Bicknell in order to stay alive.
