Day 3 of Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em BOUNTY has concluded. 1983 players sat down to play at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino three days ago but now the final four are all that remain. Everyone who returns tomorrow has won at least $89,079. However, they will all be hoping to take down the top prize of $272,504, the title and a sought-after gold WSOP bracelet, which come with the first place.
Returning as chipleader tomorrow is Ryan Leng (5,440,000). Leng has had a rollercoaster of a day today, frequently sitting at the top and bottom of the leaderboard throughout play.
Leng had numerous tussles with Ranno Sootla and was fortunate to get a double and not a bust out in one particular hand where they both had top pair on the flop but Sootla had the better kicker. Leng found help on the turn to keep him in the competition. Some time later, the roles were reversed and Sootla got it in behind with ace-queen to Leng's ace-king suited but he managed to hit a queen. “Now we are even,” Sootla said after.
The Estonian, who started Day 3 as the chipleader, will return second in chips (3,835,000). In close third is Christian Nolte (3,405,000). Completing the final four is none other than 2013 Main Event runner-up Jay Farber (2,195,000) but even as the short stack, he will still come back with over 20 big blinds.
Final Table Action
At the unofficial final table, Quyen Hoang busted in 10th place ($16,928). Hoang was grinding through the day and moved in on the button with an ace but was unfortunate to run into another ace with a better kicker. Joining her shortly after was Mikhail Semin in 9th ($21,741). Semin shoved pocket sevens when the action was unopened but Sootla found pocket jacks and hit a set on the flop to win the pot.
Next to leave was Mark Mazza in 8th ($28,225) He hit top pair queens with ace-queen suited and got it in versus Leng's pocket aces. He couldn't crack the rockets and hit the rail. John Gulino was out next in 7th ($37,034). Gulino moved all in on an ace high turn with top pair and was called by Sootla who had an ace with a lower kicker and a flush draw. The river completed the flush and Gulino had to say goodbye.
Russell Rosenblum's time came when he three-bet all-in with king-jack over a raise from Farber and a call from Nolte. Nolte snap-called and had the best hand all the way through with ace-king. He finished in 6th ($49,107). Finally, it was Javier Gomez who had to leave, finishing in 5th ($65,799), after shoved ace-jack suited into a raise and a call and running into ace-queen.
Play resumes on Thursday, June 28 at noon in the Brasilia room at table #92. Players will come back in level 31 with blinds at 50,000 and 100,000 and a running ante of 10,000.
PokerNews will be at the heart of the action from beginning to the very end, bringing you live updates of each and every hand that is played at the final table.