Thair Kallabat won a bigger pot off Michael Duek in the previous hand and Dzmitry Urbanovich then raised the pot from under the gun. It folded all the way back to Nitesh Rawtani in the big blind, who glanced at the stack of his table neighbour and then counted his own which indicated he would have fewer than one big blind left if he were to double Urbanovich.
Rawtani then moved all-in, Urbanovich glanced at the other table and then called all-in.
Dzmitry Urbanovich:
Nitesh Rawtani:
The board ran out and Rawtani's superior full house knocked out Urbanovich in 10th place for $76,792.
Tom Hu had chipped up after the dinner break and raised the button in the final hand before the table was to break for the unofficial final table redraw. Jered Bettencourt saw the seat open on the other table and then stuck it in from the big blind for Hu to call.
Jered Bettencourt:
Tom Hu:
The runout gave Hu the superior hand and Bettencourt was eliminated in 9th place for $97,044.
Toby Lewis raised to 250,000 from the hijack, leaving himself just a couple of T-5,000 chips behind.
Michael Duek called in the cutoff as did Sean Troha in the big blind.
On the flop, action was checked through, but after the turn was checked to Duek, he flicked forward a single T-25,000 chip, but it was ruled he must bet the minimum of 100,000. Troha called and Lewis chucked in his last couple of chips.
On the river with a small side pot now built, Troha checked to Duek, who bet 300,000.
Troha folded and Duek flipped up for a set of queens.
Lewis showed which was scooped up and deposited into the muck, sending him home in 8th place.
Nitesh Rawtani raised it up to 200,000 and was called by Shiva Dudani in the big blind. They headed to the flop on which Rawtani bet 250,000. Dudani then check-raised the pot to 1,300,000 and Rawtani mulled it over. He had some 980,000 behind his bet and eventually called all-in.
Nitesh Rawtani:
Shiva Dudani:
The turn improved Rawtani to the superior pair but Dudani improved on the river as he made two pair.
"I thought I dodged it," Rawtani said on his way out. He had qualified in a $1,100 satellite and collects a payday of $162,542 for the efforts.
Shiva Dudani raised to 350,000 in first position and was called by chip leader Tom Hu in the small blind.
Hu checked the flop, then called a bet of 550,000 from Dudani.
The fireworks really came on the turn as after Hu checked, Dudani bet the size of the pot (2,060,000). Hu then check-raised pot, covering Dudani's 4,725,000 total remaining. Dudani called and their monsters were revealed with Dudani at risk.
Shiva Dudani:
Tom Hu:
Dudani had aces with a club draw and a gutshot Broadway draw, while Hu had top two pair with a diamond draw.
Dudani's flush came in on the river with the , sending the over 11 million chip pot to the new chip leader of the tournament.
Shiva Dudani has sent the final five players home for the night and extended his now massive chip lead with the elimination of Thair Kallabat.
Kallabat opened to 350,000 from the button and was met with a pot-sized three-bet to 1,170,000 by Dudani.
Kallabat came back with a pot-sized four-bet to 3,630,000, leaving himself approximately 1,700,000 behind.
Dudani opted to just call, but after a flop of , Kallabat stuck the rest of it in and was instantly called.
Thair Kallabat:
Shiva Dudani:
Kallabat was actually well ahead with his aces, flush draw and gutshot Broadway draw, while Dudani's red cards had only second pair and his own gutshot Broadway draw, partially blocked by Kallabat's ten.
The turn changed nothing, but one of those three remaining tens magically fell on the river with the to eliminate Kallabat and end the night with Dudani well in the chip lead as those final five players bag up for the night.
After a fast-paced day with bursts of lightning-quick eliminations, just five players remain to vie for the title in WSOP Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship (8-Handed).
The man to beat will be two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Shiva Dudani of Chicago, Illinois, who lit the tournament on fire after dinner, winning the two largest pots of the event to first take the chip lead, and then solidify it to bring 15,650,000 into Tuesday’s Day 4.
Michael Duek will go in with the second-most chips (9,405,000), while Tom Hu, who had the chip lead for much of the evening until he lost a huge pot to Dudani, comes in third with 7,330,000.
Tuesday’s final five will be playing for the $1,246,770 top prize and one of the most prestigious of World Series of Poker bracelets available.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Joachim Haraldstad
Norway
3,580,000
30
2
Sean Troha
United States
5,045,000
42
3
Tom Hu
United States
7,330,000
61
4
Shiva Dudani
United States
15,650,000
130
5
Michael Duek
Argentina
9,405,000
78
Day 3 Recap
Michael Duek
The day began with 39 contestants, but that field was quickly whittled down by the first break with nine players sent to the rail, and not long after that the field was down to the three-table redraw with Duek’s elimination of Tommi Lankinen that saw him move up the leaderboard early in the day.
The next round of eliminations that led up to the dinner break included several notables, including Brandon Adams (24th), Jeff Madsen (19th), and David Coleman (17th).
Post-Dinner Bustout Bonanza
Tom Hu
The PokerNews reporting team was unsure of what the final 12 players had for dinner, but whatever they ate inspired them to come out blasting their stacks, with double-ups and eliminations in quick succession, leading to a final table within an hour.
As mentioned, Hu had built up a healthy chip lead until Dudani doubled through him, then eliminated Thair Kallabat in a pair of ten million chip pots to wrap up Day 3 play before midnight.
Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in USD)
1
$1,246,770
2
$770,556
3
$548,015
4
$395,465
5
$289,630
6
Thair Kallabat
United States
$215,326
7
Nitesh Rawtani
United States
$162,542
8
Toby Lewis
United Kingdom
$124,611
A Champion Will Be Crowned Tuesday
Play will resume Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Bally’s Event Center with 11:09 remaining in Level 28 (blinds 60,000/ 120,000/ 120,000 big blind ante).
The final five will play down to a winner and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there for all the action as the largest PLO Championship event in the history of the World Series of Poker determines a champion.
Stay tuned for all the excitement from this and every event from the 53rd World Series of Poker from its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas.