Frank Patti brings the slightest of chip leads into Day 3 of Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, as he bagged 1,197,000 last night, less than 40,000 clear of second-place Jorge Vergara's 1,159,000. What began with 1,940 entries two days ago has dwindled to just 12, and a champion will be crowned today who will walk out with $323,125 and a World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
To claim that prize, Patti and Vergara will have to contend with the likes of Vinny Pahuja, who is making his first final table appearance at the WSOP despite notching over $1.6 million in live cashes, and Chris Hunichen, who final tabled last year's Millionaire Maker on the way to over $500,000 in live cashes.
We'll begin at Level 22 today, combining for the final table after the first two eliminations. Cards will be in the air at 1 p.m. local time, so don't miss the action as we bring you all of the relevant hands right here on PokerNews.
Chris Hunichen opened for a raise to 33,000 in middle position, and Vinny Pahuja jammed for about 400,000 in the next spot. Action folded back to Hunichen, who snap-called.
Hunichen:
Pahuja:
"Oh boy," Hunichen said.
The dealer spread the flop: .
"Ohhh boy," Hunichen said again, seeing his opponent now had a flush draw.
The and paired the board harmlessly though, and Pahuja was the first player to exit today.
Dylan Linde opened preflop to 34,000 from the cutoff, Chris Hunichen announced all in from the button, and the action folded back around to Linde who called, putting himself at risk. The cards were tabled.
Linde:
Hunichen:
Linde was way behind and needed help to stay alive. The dealer fanned a board and Linde was out as the unofficial final table bubble boy.
Cornel Medes has been nursing a small stack since the start of play today, and he got it in ahead when he pushed to the initial raise from Danny Nguyen. Nguyen made the call and was behind with , but the suited cards connected on the flop of . Now Medes needed more spades to get the better flush with his king, but the turn and river fell and Medes was eliminated in 10th for $18,472. We now have our official final table.
Hand 10: They've been falling fast. In the 10th hand of the final table, David Inselberg raised to 50,000 and Frank Patti three-bet to 125,000 from the button. Inselberg called and the flop fell . Inselberg checked, Patti bet to 225,000, Inselberg snap-shoved, and Patti called.
Patti:
Inselberg:
The turn came giving Patti the lead, and the river cemented his victory. Inselberg was eliminated in 8th and will receive $30,781.
Hand 22: Chris Hunichen opened to 50,000, Danny Nguyen called from the big blind, and the two saw a flop. Danny slid out a bet and Chris snap-shoved all in. Nguyen quickly called putting Hunichen at risk.
Nguyen:
Hunichen:
Hunichen was behind but had outs to a flush and his ace was live. The turn and river gave no aid, however, and Hunichen was knocked out in sixth place.
This is the second straight year with a sixth-place finish for Hunichen, as he took sixth in last year's WSOP Millionaire Maker event for $229,575.
Vanessa Selbst, winner of Event #2: $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold'em and her third World Series of Poker gold bracelet, joins the show to talk about her heads-up matches, the Twitter beef with Jason Mo, and her two small dogs. Rich, Donnie, and Jason then take a look at all of the recent bracelet winners and dissect the idea of a $20 million guarantee tournament.
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and 
paired the board harmlessly though, and Pahuja was the first player to exit today.
board and Linde was out as the unofficial final table bubble boy.
, but the suited cards connected on the flop of 
. Now Medes needed more spades to get the better flush with his king, but the turn and river fell 
runout left Patti's queens best, and Vergara was the first to fall here at the final table.
cemented his victory. Inselberg was eliminated in 8th and will receive $30,781.
and river 