October 30 2011, Chad Holloway

The World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, the first $10,000 buy-in of Season X, saw 189 players take their shots at poker glory and a piece of the $1,778,300 prize pool. With nearly $450,000 reserved for first place, the competition was fierce. By the end of Day 3, only 27 players remained, each guaranteed a payday of $19,916.

Leading the way is reigning WPT Player of the Year, Andy Frankenberger, who bagged up 658,500 chips. He is followed by Jack Schanbacher, with 483,500. Other notables sill in the field include Jonathan Little (355,000), Hoyt Corkins (235,000), Matt Glantz (226,500), Bernard Lee (84,000), Allen Kessler (43,500) and Cornel Cimpan (25,000).

Frankenberger began Day 3 as the chip leader and used it to his advantage. In one hand, Frankenberger eliminated Alan Sternber, a fellow WPT Champ. According to the WPT Live Reporting Team, there was a bout 60,000 in the pot with a board reading when Sternberg checked under the gun, Frankenberger bet 40,000, and Sternberg moved all-in. Frankenberger made the call and the cards were turned up:

Showdown
Sternberg:
Frankenberger:

Sternberg was in need of an ace on the river, but it was not meant to be as the gave Frankenbeger quad jacks, increasing his stack to 327,500.

Day 3 was characterized by fast action and numerous eliminations. A laundry list of professionals hit the rail throughout the day including Dwyte Pilgrim, Erik Seidel, Chris Tryba, David “Doc” Sands, Justin Zaki, Dana Kellstrom, Jason Mercier, and last year’s champion, Jeff Forrest.

Jason Mercier’s demise came when he raised to 4,000 from early position and received calls from both blinds. When the flop came down , Lee Markholt bet 6,000 from the small blind, Andy Rossi raised to 16,000 from the big, and Mercier three-bet to 30,200. Markholt got out of the way, but Rossi made the call, leading to the turn.

Rossi went ahead and led out for 23,000, Mercier moved all-in for 87,700, and Rossi hit the tank. Eventually he emerged with a call, discovering his was ahead of Mercier’s . The river was no help to Mercier and he was eliminated in 39th place; meanwhile, Rossi chipped up to 300,000.

The unfortunate bubble boy, who busted in 28th place right at the end of the day, was Alistair Melville. After being crippled by Matt Stout, Melville was all-in from the big blind, and Dan Colman limped from middle position. Christian Harder called from the button, and Hoyt Corkins came along from the small blind. In order to survive, Melville needed to defeat three opponents. All three active players checked the flop, as well as the turn, but Harder fired out 10,000 on the river. Corkins quickly folded, and Colman followed suit, tossing .

Harder rolled over for the nut straight, which beat Melville’s . With that, action came to a halt.

The remaining 27 players will return at 1200 EDT (1600 GMT) on Sunday for Day 4 action. Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks entering Day 4:

Top 10 End of Day 3 Chip Counts

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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