In a single raised pot, Igor Kurganov checked from the big blind with the flop showing . Timothy Su bet 9,000 in an early position and a player on the button escaped. Kurganov check-called.
The turn was the and Kurganov let Su fire 41,000, then called again.
The hit the river and Kurganov checked one more time. Su announced he was all in, covering Kurganov's remaining 210,000 or so. Kurganov didn't waste a second and slammed calling chips on the felt.
Su, however, had him beat, having flopped a top set with the . Kurganov had a set of his own, but the cost him the tournament life with the Main Event getting closer to the bubble.
Level 14 and 22 minutes of level 15 are completed and the field has been reduced to the final 1,341 hopefuls. Only the top 1,286 spots get paid and the money bubble will be looming when the players return to their seats after a 35-minute color up break. Action resumes at 11 p.m. local time.
There was plenty of action at the tables and you can check out the recent highlights below.
John "The Razor" Phan raised from under the gun, Chris Hunichen three-bet to 92,000 from middle position, Phan reraised to 92,000 (leaving 1,000 behind) and Hunichen thought for a bit before he called.
The flop was , Phan bet his remaining 1,000 and Hunichen called.
Phan:
Hunichen:
The turn and river completed the board, safe for Phan to double up.
Tournament officials announced that dealers should hold up at the end of their hand in order to start hand-for-hand play on the direct money bubble.
One of the hands that was still in progress during this period resulted in Ryan Pochedly standing up looking decidedly dejected. He had been eliminated from the Main Event at the hands of Julian Pineda.
Ryan Pochedly
Pineda filled us in on the details and explained that Pochedly had opened to 14,000 from under the gun and Colombian player Pineda had three-bet to 42,000. Pochedly called and checked the flop to his opponent who bet 18,000.
Pochedly called and the turn was checked by both players. The river was the . Pochedly checked for the third time and Pineda moved all in.
According to Pineda, Pochedly had around 300,000 in chips behind and called it off with for two pair only to be met by the of Pineda for rivered trips.
After a short period of clarification by the WSOP tournament officials, Pochedly was announced as the bubble boy in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, receiving entry to the 2020 Main Event from Jack Effel as a consolation prize.
The second-biggest World Series of Poker Main Event has seen a field of 8,569 entries cut down to the final 1,286 hopefuls as the money bubble burst in the final minutes of the fifth level on Day 3, securing each remaining player of the $10,000 buy-in Main Event a payday of at least $15,000.
All those that bagged and tagged for the night will return at noon local time to their allocated seats in the Amazon and Pavilion Rooms of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and at least five levels of two hours are scheduled for Day 4.
Preben Stokkan is the chip leader as the only player above two million, claiming 2,184,000 to his name. It could have been an entirely different story, however, as Stokkan was down to one chip in the first break of the day.
“I started the day with 93,000, I had a pretty good start, I was up to like 180,000 pretty early in the first level. But I blew it all on a huge bluff, but I saved myself one chip. I almost went all-in but he over shoved, and I folded. So, I had 5,000 left on the first break and spun it up from there," Stokkan said at the end of the night.
The rise of the poker pro from Norway culminated in the final level of the night as his hot streak continued in a big pot, and Stokkan provided the following details.
"I had a pretty crazy hand against a French guy on my table where I opened from under the gun and he had 600,000 behind. I had him covered, it was right before the bubble. He three-bet me to 40,000, I four-bet to 100,000 with aces. He called. The flop came ace-nine-deuce rainbow. He check-called 40,000. The turn was a four, rainbow board still. He checks, I bet 120,000, he jams! I had top set and he had pocket sevens. Yeah, that was a crazy hand."
Behind Stokkan, Andrew Brokos once again had a decent day at the tables. Heading into the day as one of the biggest stacks when all survivors of the previous days combined for the first time, Brokos spent most of his day in the Pavilion room and will enter Day 4 with a stack of 1,906,000. Other big stacks and notables include Ryan Dodge (1,800,000), Galen Hall (1,658,000), Cassio Pisapia (1,646,000), Chris "BigHuni" Hunichen (1,618,000), Pavlo Veksler (1,596,000), Julian Pineda (1,467,000), Mark Zullo (1,455,000), Jean-Robert Bellande (1,126,000), and Joseph Cheong (1,068,000).
Three former WSOP Main Event champions are still in the mix for a repeat victory in Chris Moneymaker (681,000), Qui Nguyen (669,000) and Johnny Chan (498,000). While Moneymaker returned with a short stack and consistently added more chips throughout the day, Nguyen went from a fairly big stack to below the average, only to bounce back at the very end of the day.
Defending champion John Cynn eliminated before the money
Former champs Scotty Nguyen, Jim Bechtel, Joe Hachem and defending champion John Cynn were among the thousands of hopefuls that had to leave empty-handed. Cynn saw his title defense come to an end in the final level of the night when his trip sixes ended up second-best to the rivered flush of Julian Sacks.
Many other notables such as John Esposito, Loni Harwood, Asi Moshe, Phil Hui, Nick Schulman, 2018 runner-up Tony Miles, Benjamin Pollak, and Igor Kurganov were among those to run out of chips throughout the five levels of two hours each and won't be adding another WSOP Main Event cash to their resume.
The one elimination that let the players in the Amazon and Pavilion room erupt in celebration was the one of Ryan Pochedly, who ended up as the bubble boy. Pochedly turned top pair and top kicker with ace-king, but Julian Pineda rivered trips sevens when the majority of the chips went in. Pochedly won't leave empty-handed, as he receives an entry to the 2020 WSOP Main Event.
Bubble Boy Ryan Pochedly
The 2019 WSOP Main Event in Numbers
Day
Players Starting
Players Late Regging
Players Total for Day
Players Total Cumulative
Players Surviving
1a
1,334
-
1,334
1,334
962
1b
1,914
-
1,914
3,248
1,421
1c
4,877
-
4,877
8,125
3,664
2ab
2,383
100
2,483
8,225
1,087
2c
3,664
344
4,008
8,569
1,793
3
2,880
-
2,880
8,569
1,286
The cards will be back at noon with 6:26 minutes remaining in level 15 at blinds of 3,000/6,000 with a big blind ante of 6,000. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there every step of the way as the players go from having cashed in the Main Event to trying to make the latter stages of the event itself.
. Timothy Su bet 9,000 in an early position and a player on the button escaped. Kurganov check-called.
and Kurganov let Su fire 41,000, then called again.
hit the river and Kurganov checked one more time. Su announced he was all in, covering Kurganov's remaining 210,000 or so. Kurganov didn't waste a second and slammed calling chips on the felt.
. Kurganov had a set of his own, but the 
cost him the tournament life with the Main Event getting closer to the bubble.
flop and the turn was the 
. Cynn bet 22,000 and Sacks called.
and Cynn bet somewhere in the region of 30,000. Sacks moved all in and Cynn called for his 60,000 or so chips.
for trip sixes but Sacks had rivered a flush with 
and the defending champion was eliminated from the 2019 Main Event.
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
turn and 
river completed the board, safe for Phan to double up.
of Pineda for rivered trips.
