Day 3 of the monster-sized Monster Stack event began with 576 players and at the end of nine 60-minute levels all but 62 of those players had fallen by the wayside.
As an army of players busted, a number of players' stacks grew with Sean Drake's growing the most. Drake's 4,975,000 stack is the largest of any of Sunday's returnees and he therefore has the title of overnight chip leader. He also knows that he is in pole position for the massive $1,327,083 first place prize, which comes with the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.
Hot on Drake's heels is Austin Bursavich of Los Angeles who narrowly missed out on the chip lead by finishing with 4,915,000 chips. Both Bursavich and Drake will no doubt sleep well tonight knowing they return for Day 4 in a favorable position.
Other players to look out for when play resumes at 3:00p.m. on Sunday afternoon include British trio Lynne Beaumont (3,950,000), Mathew Frankland (1,575,000) and Tom Alner (1,785,000), French pro Ludovic Riehl (1,970,000), the ever-dangerous Jason Duval (3,465,000) and Thayer Rasmussen (3,005,000).
Each of the 62 returning players is guaranteed to win at least $21,758 for their efforts thus far, but by the time play ends on Day 4, that prize money should have increased to around $127,364 if the nine-handed final table is reached.
Until the restart of this epic tournament at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, we say goodnight and thank you for following our coverage.
Action folded to Jeff Yeh in middle position and he shoved for about 415,000. John Monnette called all in on the button for 305,000 and the blinds folded.
Yeh:
Monnette:
The board ran out as Yeh paired his jack on the turn to eliminate Monnette in 89th place.
Jason Duval raised to 32,000 from under the gun and two players called. The player in the big blind moved all in for 285,000. Duval also moved all in for 490,000 total. The player to Duval's immediate right made it three all ins, having everyone covered. The player on the button got out of the way and the hands were tabled.
Duval:
Small blind:
Second opponent:
The board completed and Duval's aces stayed safe and he raked the massive pot.
WSOP bracelet winner Sean Drake just eliminated Marvin Rettenmaier to take the chip lead for the time being and filled us in on some of the details.
Drake raised to 26,000 in middle position and Marvin Rettenmaier called from the big blind.
The flop fell and Rettenmaier checked to Drake who continued for 32,000. Rettenmaier check-raised to about 71,000, Drake reraised to 167,000 and Rettenmaier went into the tank for a while before he reraised all in for about 540,000. Drake called.
Drake:
Rettenmaier:
The turn and river were no help to Rettenmaier, locking up the sizable pot for Drake.
After two flights on Day 1 and nine levels of play on Day 2, the massive starting field of 7,862 made it through the money and pared down to just 576 players.
Salvatore Bianco was the overnight chip leader, stacked at 847,000. Many notables came and went on Day 2, but joining Bianco and hundreds of others for Day 3, include the likes of Joe Serock (413,000), Jeff Madsen (381,000) and Maria Ho (364,000).
The remaining players are guaranteed at least $3,502, but things will get a bit more serious for anyone that can make their way through Day 3 of the scheduled five-day tournament.
Play is set to begin at 3 p.m. PT and PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you coverage.