Taylor Paur has a commanding chip lead going into Day 3 with 1,318,000 of the 6,213,000 chips in play with just 14 players left in the tournament. Most railbirds will have their focus on a different player though: Phil Ivey. He's still in contention for his first hold'em bracelet, though he's somewhat short on chips. Ivey has 260,000 in chips with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante (16 big blinds). Can he do it? Can he win his first bracelet of the summer?
But there are many other questions today. Can Taylor Paur win his first bracelet? Is it Daniel Idema's day to win his second? Can Kyle Cartwright finally win a bracelet to wear with all those WSOP Circuit Rings he already has? Will James Epner make an epic comeback to win it all? We'll be answering all those questions and more from 1 p.m.
For now, Lynn Gilmartin has an update from yesterday's adventures around the Rio:
In one of the first hands of the day, Ryan Austin raised all in under the gun for his stack of 226,000. Action folded to Phil Ivey in the big blind and after cutting out his chips, he made the call. He was not happy to see his was behind to Austin's .
The flop came and Austin's kicker played leaving Ivey on the extreme short stack.
Just two hands later, Ivey doubled through Adam Sanders. Ivey with and Sanders holding saw the giving Ivey the double up.
Phil Ivey shoved under-the-gun and the action quickly folded to Taylor Paur in the small blind. Paur took a good look at Ivey's stack, and then announced to be all in as well. Roy Weiss took a quick glance at his cards and folded, and thus we had heads-up showdown.
Paur tabled and threw them in the middle of the table. Ivey took a look at his cards and seemed disappointed with his second card; . It had the look of it that Ivey had only looked at his first card initially, and had already decided to shove seeing the ace alone.
The match-up would become even more unfair for Ivey as the flop gave Paur a set: . With the on the turn it was all over and Ivey was already half on his way to another event. Nobody cared about the on the river and we continue the tournament with 13 players.
All the chips went into the middle preflop, between Nick Colbrese with and DJ MacKinnon holding . The flop came giving the obligatory sweat but the turn and river ended Colbrese's tournament in 13th place.
Daniel Idema opened to 32,000 from the hijack position and saw Roy Weiss threebet to 95,000 from the button. In the big blind Adam Sanders pushed all in for 85,000 and Idema eventually folded. Sanders showed his and was up against Weiss' . The flop was still good for Sanders but the turn brought the pain: | | .
Robert Deppe pushed all in fromt he small blind and Phillip Hui made the call rather quickly. Deppe showed his and was behind against Hui's . There were some possibilities for a split pot but those hopes were gone after the flop: . The on the turn sealed the deal for Hui and the made the board complete. Hui had 269,000 and left Deppe with just 11,000 in chips.
Deppe folded the next hand but a hand after that he was all in for his last couple of chips. Deppe had and got isolated by Hui who showed . Deppe didn't make a come back as the board came out | | .
Tai Nguyen limped the button for 20,000 and James Epner raised it up to 70,000 from the small blind. Taylor Paur folded his big blind and Nguyen made the call to go heads up to the flop: . Epner bet out 100,000 and got a rather quick call from Nguyen.
The turn came the and Epner announced all in. After some counting they agreed it was 329,000 and that send Nguyen into the tank. After about a minute Nguyen said "Ok, let's go. I call." Epner showed and was far in front of Nguyen's . Wel, since the title of this post is that Epner is eliminated, you might have guessed by now what the river was. Indeed, the popped up and Epner made his way off the stage.
That leaves us with a final table of nine players. We're counting the chips now and will bring you a full seating as soon as possible. Players are on a ten minute break. You can follow all the action here with hand for hand coverage. There's also a live stream available without hole cards and without commenatry on WSOP.com/live.
Hand #13: Action folded around to Taylor Paur in the cutoff who raised to 40,000. Ryan Austin pushed all in from the cutoff for his final 565,000, as did Kyle Cartwright from the button for 382,000. Both blinds folded and Paur made the call.
Paur:
Austin:
Cartwright:
There was a lot of excitement as some paint came on the flop but it was for nothing. Paur's aces were still ahead and the turn sealed the fate of Austin and Cartwright. The river was irrelevant as Paur soars over two million and eliminates two players in the process.
Action folded around to Daniel Idema in the small blind. He shoved all in for 449,000 with . Unfortunately for him, DJ MacKinnon woke up with and snap called from the big blind.
The board fell and MacKinnon ended up making the the nut flush on the river, eliminating Idema in 7th place.
was behind to Austin's 
.
and Austin's kicker played leaving Ivey on the extreme short stack.
saw the 
giving Ivey the double up.
and threw them in the middle of the table. Ivey took a look at his cards and seemed disappointed with his second card; 
. It had the look of it that Ivey had only looked at his first card initially, and had already decided to shove seeing the ace alone.
. With the 
and DJ MacKinnon holding 
. The flop came 
giving the obligatory sweat but the 
. The flop was still good for Sanders but the turn brought the pain: 
| 
on the turn sealed the deal for Hui and the 
and got isolated by Hui who showed 
. Deppe didn't make a come back as the board came out 
| 
| 
. Epner bet out 100,000 and got a rather quick call from Nguyen.
and was far in front of Nguyen's 
. Unfortunately for him, DJ MacKinnon woke up with 
and Barlow's queens hold, eliminating Hui in 6th place.
