The hand-for-hand play had begun, and on Farid Jattin's table, the board was down . Jattin was up against two opponents, and he bet 21,500 from the big blind. One of his opponents raised to 76,000 and the player on the button folded.
Jattin thought for several minutes as a crowd gathered. Every other table in the Amazon room had finished their play by the time Jattin pushed a stack of orange chips worth around 110k into the middle to signal a raise on top of his previous bet.
Jattin's opponent thought for close to 30 seconds before he folded and the former tabled for seven high.
The second hand on the money bubble was a big one and it ended up in a spectacular split pot.
Ryan Messick had raised to 13,000 and Paul Volpe in the small blind clicked it up to 48,000. Messick made it 150,000 to go and Volpe moved all in, Messick called it off for 526,000.
Ryan Messick:
Paul Volpe:
The flop gave some back door outs, but the turn and river locked up the split pot.
With about 100,000 chips in the middle and the board reading , Sam Taylor was in the big blind and facing a decision for the remainder of his approximately 150,000-chip stack from Chi Chan, who was in the hijack. Taylor went into the tank for several minutes until tournament staff arrived at the table and gave him half a minute to act. As the final seconds ticked down, Taylor moved some T-1,000 chips forward to call and put himself at risk.
Once the cards were turned over, it was Chan who had the winner with for aces full of threes. Taylor showed for trip aces and Chan took the pot to eliminate Taylor, bringing the 2018 Main Event to the stone bubble.
The tournament went on break immediately following the conclusion of the hand to the obvious displeasure of the remaining players. The Amazon room was filled with the sound of booing as they began to file out of the exits. The light blue T-500 chips were colored up during the break to make the bagging process quicker.
The player in mid-position raised to 12,000 and Ben Cade three-bet to 40,000 from the button. Ross Mallor was sitting in the big blind with 51,000 and was in the tank trying to figure out what to do. After a while, Mallor shoved. The initial raiser folded and Cade called.
The ESPN TV crew and the rest of the media that is covering the WSOP Main Event swarmed the table. So did a bunch of players who were curious enough to see what was happening. There were also two other tables with all-ins and calls, Jack Effel came over to announce the action.
Ross Mallor:
Ben Cade:
The board ran out to give Mallor a pair of kings on the flop and two pair on the turn. A diamond on the river would have split the pot, a ten on the river would mean that Mallor would be eliminated.
The on the river meant that Mallor would double up and he high-fived his neighboring player and celebrated loudly.
Bryce McVay raised to 15,000 from middle position, Matthew Hopkins reraised all in for 49,000 from the button and McVay called.
Once the other all-in and call took place, the hands were revealed.
McVay tabled , dominating the held by Hopkins.
The flop came down , providing little help to Hopkins. The turn was the , leaving Hopkins with just three outs to survive. The river was the , locking up pot for McVay and sending the remaining 1,182 players into the money.
It's not a complete loss for Hopkins, though, as he will receive a $10,000 entry into the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Day 3 of the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event has come to a conclusion with the remaining players all heading home assured of an in-the-money finish and a guaranteed $15,000 payday.
Following three Day 1 flights, and two Day 2 flights, just 2,786 players remained in the Main Event, and for the first time they would all combine to play together here on Day 3. Everyone's eyes would be on reaching the money-reaching final 1,182, but that would be easier said than done as over half of the players would need to be eliminated throughout the day for that to occur.
With players located across three separate rooms, action would be intense to start the day as a plethora of eliminations began the table-breaking process. Jason Mercier, Parker Talbot, Greg Merson, Matt Waxman, Matt Berkey, JC Tran, Loren Klein, Phil Hellmuth, Eli Elezra, Erick Lindgren, Tom Marchese, and Steffen Sontheimer were just a handful of the big names falling short of the money.
For Hellmuth (pictured below), his day would be spent at the feature table where he was catching plenty of heat from players and fans. In the end, Hellmuth would see his tournament come to an end at the hands of Jans Arends. Hellmuth's ace-king was up against Arends' ace-nine, but when the dealer peeled off a nine on the river Hellmuth would be eliminated from the Main Event.
Phil Hellmuth
As the day progressed, several players began making their run up the chip leaderboard. Frankie Flowers was having the time of his life in the Brasilia Room laughing with players and having a great time all the while he continued to accumulate chips. Eventually, Flowers would be moved to the feature table, and then into another section of the Amazon Room where a monster hand occurred that saw him crack aces with tens, while also doubling a short stack up who made quads.
However, the true story of the day would be the bubble bursting in the Main Event. With an hour remaining in the final level, the players were sent on an impromptu break as the WSOP staff relocated every player into the Amazon Room for the first time during the tournament. From there, a further 22 eliminations needed to occur until the bubble burst, and once play resumed, the eliminations occurred at a slower rate than before. Hand-for-hand play was finally reached with just over one minute remaining in the level, and in the day.
On the first hand of the hand-for-hand process, there were three all-ins for the players for the crowd to sweat. Gerard Cassisfound a double holding kings against queens, before Paul Volpe and Ryan Messickchopped with aces. The third hand, however, would see Sam Taylor's trip aces cut down by Chi Chan's full house, and the Main Event would be on the stone bubble and then be sent on a 20-minute break for the color-up of the blue 500-denomination chips.
On the first hand after the break, two all-ins would occur. Ross Mallor would find himself all in holding ace-king against Ben Cade's queens, and when he flopped a king and turned an ace, Mallor would double.
Unfortunately for Matthew Hopkins (pictured below), he wouldn't be so lucky when over on the feature table he was all in with ace-five against Bryce McVay's ace-queen. Both players paired their ace on the run out and Hopkins would be crowned the Main Event bubble boy; but in the process receive an entry into the 2019 WSOP Main Event.
Matthew Hopkins
With Hopkins on the rail, the remaining 1,182 players were in the money and guaranteed a $15,000 payday as play would officially be concluded for Day 3. Leading the remaining players into Day 4 is In Sun Geoum who, courtesy of an aces-versus-kings confrontation, rocketed up the leaderboard and retained his position to end with 1,696,000 in chips. Flowers is snapping at his heels with 1,624,000, while Samuel Bernabeu (1,418,000), Michael Lavenburg (1,356,000), and Julius Malzanini (1,292,000) round out the top five.
Play is set to resume for Day 4 on Sunday, July 8, at 11am (PDT) with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing all the continuous live updates. So stay tuned to PokerNews.com for continued coverage of the Main Event, and the remainder of the 2018 WSOP schedule.
. Jattin was up against two opponents, and he bet 21,500 from the big blind. One of his opponents raised to 76,000 and the player on the button folded. 
for seven high.
flop gave some back door outs, but the 
turn and 
river locked up the split pot.
, Sam Taylor was in the big blind and facing a decision for the remainder of his approximately 150,000-chip stack from Chi Chan, who was in the hijack. Taylor went into the tank for several minutes until tournament staff arrived at the table and gave him half a minute to act. As the final seconds ticked down, Taylor moved some T-1,000 chips forward to call and put himself at risk. 
for aces full of threes. Taylor showed 
for trip aces and Chan took the pot to eliminate Taylor, bringing the 2018 Main Event to the stone bubble.
to give Mallor a pair of kings on the flop and two pair on the turn. A diamond on the river would have split the pot, a ten on the river would mean that Mallor would be eliminated.
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
held by Hopkins.
, providing little help to Hopkins. The turn was the 
