Welcome to Day 3 of the latest $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. They started Day 2 with 233 players, quickly reaching the money and then whittling down to just 12 remaining after 10 levels of play. Hiren Patel comes in as the chip leader with an impressive stack of 1,873,000.
A few of the notables that made the money but failed to advance to Day 3 included Jason Somerville, Matt Affleck, and Loni Harwood. Phil Collins was also making a quest for his second final table of the summer, but fell short as he was eliminated early in two-table play for a 16th-place finish.
Johnny “World” Hennigan, Jacobo Fernandez, and Mustapha Kanit also remain, but all will start at quite a chip disadvantage to Patel. Kanit (1,183,000) and Ted Gillis (1,118,000) are the two other players who are over the million-chip mark and Jaime Kaplan (984,000) is close behind.
We are only three eliminations from the final table and 11 eliminations from finding the next WSOP champion. A huge payout of $514,027 awaits today's winner.
Play is set to begin at 1 p.m. local time today. Be sure to follow PokerNews as we bring you the action, including hand-for-hand action of the final table.
Edison Shields found another double-up, but he had fallen short again previously, so he's back up to where he was after his last double. This time Shields got it all in preflop against Gregg Merkow.
Merkow:
Shields:
"I'm in better shape than I thought!" Shields said excitedly.
"Look out. I'm running good," replied Merkow.
The flop was dangerous for Shields, coming to give Merkow a flush draw. The turn and river did not complete the flush though — coming , then — and Shields was safe.
Shields commented on the unfortunate flop. "What are you complaining about? You faded it," said Merkow.
Johnny "World" Hennigan has just scored a double knockout. He had raised to 32,000 from middle position and Gregg Merkow pushed all in from the cutoff. Ron Mcmillen got involved when he pushed his shorter stack all in to call, and things got scary for them when Hennigan called with the largest stack, covering them both.
Hennigan:
Merkow:
Mcmillen:
Board:
The cowboys held and Hennigan scored the double-knockout, sending Merkow and Mcmillen to the cashier and we have our unofficial final table of ten players.
Edison Shields has doubled up for the third time today and has yet to cross the 500,000 mark in chips. Mustapha Kanit raised to 48,000 in middle position, Ted Gillis called two seats to his left, and Edison Shields pushed 176,000 all in from the small blind. Kanit let go of his hand, but Gillis called.
Gillis:
Shields:
The race was on, and things got even scarier for Shields on the suited flop. The board ran out and Shields secured the double up.
Darin Stout was having a good time at the table today. He was being plenty vocal and livening up the table. Unfortunately, his run has ended, busting out in 10th place. Stout reluctantly pushed from under the gun and said, "This is not me volunteering to go home." Ted Gillis sitting immediately to his left pushed all in over the top by a small margin and the rest of the table folded.
Stout:
Gillis:
Stout got it in good, but he was dead by the river. The board ran out and Gillis had hit the straight to knock Stout out of this tournament. We now have our official final table of nine.
Hand #6: Mustapha Kanit raised to 60,000 and John Hennigan called. The flop came and Kanit bet 70,000. Hennigan called and the turn card was the . Kanit bet again - this time to 185,000 - and Hennigan called. The river was the and Kanit kept firing. He made it 360,000 which Hennigan called. Hennigan scooped the pot when he showed pocket kings.
Hand #7: Action folded to Edison Shields who raised to 60,000 and Dylan Thomassie pushed all in. Both Dejan Divkovic and Shields called.
Shields:
Thomassie:
Divkovic:
The dealer flopped and Divkovic's kings raced ahead, though Thomassie picked up a flush draw. The turn was the and Divkovic made quads. The river completed Thomassie's flush, but it was no good to the four kings. Dylan Thomassie was knocked out in ninth place and Edison Shields was eliminated in eighth.
Hand #31: Hiren Patel pushed all in from the hijack seat for 665,000 and Dejan Divkovic quickly made the call in the cutoff. The rest of the table folded and we had a race to sweat.
Patel:
Divkovic:
The flop gave Divkovic plenty of outs when it came . The turn changed nothing, but the on the river gave Divkovic the flush, eliminating Patel in seventh place in this tournament.
Hand #38: Jaime Kaplan pushed all in from the cutoff when action folded to him. Jacobo Fernandez found a hand he could call with and we had another race.
Kaplan:
Fernandez:
The board ran out and Fernandez made a straight to end Kaplan's run in this tournament. He was eliminated in sixth place and earned $86,609.
Hand #39: Mustapha Kanit raised to 80,000 in the cutoff and John Hennigan called to go to a flop of . Both players checked and the turn card was the . Hennigan check-called Kanit's bet of 80,000 and the dealer burned and brought out the on the river. Hennigan check-called again; this time Kanit's bet was 210,000. Hennigan showed and Kanit mucked his hand.
Week three is underway at the 2014 World Series of Poker, and the crew is back to talk about the Venetian and Sheldon Adelson, some of the new bracelet winners, and more. The 2012 Main Event champion, Greg Merson, then joins the program to talk about his series thus far and play a game of Multiple Bracelet Winner vs. World Cup Footballer against Jason Somerville.
Hand #47: John Hennigan opened to 80,000 and Dejan Divkovic made the call from the button. Mustapha Kanit pushed all in for 740,000 from the small blind and Hennigan folded. Divkovic thought for a couple minutes before eventually making the call.
Divkovic:
Kanit:
The board ran out and Divkovic's kicker would play and eliminate Kanit.
to give Merkow a flush draw. The turn and river did not complete the flush though — coming 
, then 
— and Shields was safe.
and Kanit kept firing. He made it 360,000 which Hennigan called. Hennigan scooped the pot when he showed pocket kings.
and Divkovic made quads. The river 
completed Thomassie's flush, but it was no good to the four kings. Dylan Thomassie was knocked out in ninth place and Edison Shields was eliminated in eighth.
. The turn 
on the river. Hennigan check-called again; this time Kanit's bet was 210,000. Hennigan showed 
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