December 17 2011, Donnie Peters

The 12 remaining players in the third Epic Poker League Main Event returned to action on Saturday for another day at the office. All of them were in the money and Joe Tehan had a big chip lead on the rest of the pack. All of the players were spread across three, four-handed tables and guaranteed at least $50,920. At the end of the day, just five were left and Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger led the way. He bagged up 1.742 million in chips.

It didn’t take long for the first player hit the rail. Amnon Filippi fell at the hands of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. According to the EPL Live Update Team, Filippi was all-in preflop with , but in a tough spot against Mizrachi’s . The flop, turn and river ran out and failed to give Filippi what he needed to stay alive.

Hafiz Khan was the next man out the door in 11th place and then Amit Makhija was eliminated in 10th. Sorel Mizzi was out the door in ninth place and then David Williams fell in eighth.

Williams went out to fellow Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier. Williams moved all-in preflop with over a raise from Mercier. Mericer called with two black kings and held from there.

Even though Mercier was able to pick up Williams’ chips, he wasn’t able to put them to much use and he was the next player to head to the rail. Mercier and Chris Klodnicki saw a flop and Mercier bet 9,500. Klodnicki made the call and the landed on the turn. Mercier bet again and made it 27,000. Klodnicki raised to 63,000 and Mercier reraised to 138,000. Klodnicki reraised all-in and Mercier called to put himself at risk for 369,000 total.

Klodnicki, holding , had turned a set of tens. When Mercier opened his hand to reveal , it was much more apparent how lucky Klodnicki really got to hit the case ten on the turn. The river completed the board with the and Mercier was eliminated in seventh place.

The last player eliminated on the day was Noah Schwartz. He was involved in a hand with Klodnicki on a flop with 35,000 already in the middle. Klodnicki checked and Schwartz fired 14,000. Klodnicki check-raised to 40,000, but Schwartz didn’t scare. He made the call and the turn paired the board with the .

On the turn, Klodnicki bet 45,000. Schwartz raised to 108,000 and Klodnicki reraised all-in. Schwartz thought for a bit and then made the call to commit himself for 230,000. He held and Klodnicki showed . Once again, Klodnicki was on the positive side of a cooler. After the river failed to give Schwartz what he needed to stay alive, Klodnicki was shipped the pot.

During the Schwartz elimination hand, the other table had a big pot brewing between Scott Clements and Lichtenberger. Lichtenberger had raised to 15,000 from the button and Clements three-bet to 42,000 from the small blind. Lichtenberger made the call to see the flop, and Clements checked. Lichtenberger fired 45,000 and Clements called.

The came on the turn and Clements checked again. Lichtenberger upped his wager to 125,000 and slid it into the middle. Clements called and the landed on the river. Clements checked for a third time and Lichtenberger bet 335,000. Clements made the call for about three-quarters of his remaining stack, but could only muck when he saw Lichtenberger’s .

Wth five players left, the tournament was stopped for the day and the remaining competitors were set to return on Sunday at 1200 PST (2000 GMT) to continue. They redrew to one table before departing for the night.

Final Table Seating Assignments and Chips

All five players have locked up a minimum of $89,680, but they all have their eyes set on the first-place payday of $801,680. Be sure to check back here at PokerNews for the daily recap of the action.

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Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters

December 16 2011, Donnie Peters

The Epic Poker League continued on with Day 3 of the third Main Event as 25 players returned for play. The plan for the day was to play down until the money bubble broke and 12 players were left. The end came just about five hours after the first cards were dealt and leading the way was Joe Tehan with 1.142 million in chips.

Tehan got his chips thanks to a big double knockout on the last hand of the day to burst the bubble. His closest competitor is Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi with 627,500 and then Scott Clements rounds out the top three with 496,000.

Matt Graham was the first to go on the day. According to the EPL Live Update Team, Graham moved his last 31,500 into the middle during Level 10 with the blinds at 1,200/2,400/400. He was called by Brock Parker holding the . Graham held the , but the ladies couldn’t hold up after the board ran out .

From there, Hasan Habib fell in 24th, Yevgeniy Timoshenko was eliminated in 23rd, Eric Froehlich headed out the door in 22nd and Dan O’Brien hit the rail in 21st.

Sam Stein fell in 20th place after his failed to fend of Amnon Filippi’s and Justin Smith’s couldn’t beat Tehan’s , which sent him out the door in 19th.

After the eliminations of Marco Johnson in 18th, Randal Flowers in 17th, Eric Baldwin in 16th and Parker in 15th, just 14 players remained. Now just two places away from the money and a $51,920 payday, the unthinkable happened.

Faraz Jaka was nursing the short stack of the tournament when he raised all-in from under the gun for 68,000 with the blinds at 2,000/4,000/500. Action moved to Vanessa Rousso and she reraised to 120,000 with around 180,000 behind. When play got over to Tehan, he requested a count on Rousso’s stack and then reraised all-in. After some thinking, Rousso called and put herself at risk along with Jaka.

Jaka was fortunate enough to pick up at this very key moment. He was looking for the triple up against Rousso’s and Tehan’s . Wait, what? That’s right, Tehan held the ol’ deuce-four offsuit. What happened from there, we can’t really put into words.

What we can tell you is that the flop, turn and river ran out and Tehan had spiked trip fours to miraculously win the hand and bust both Jaka and Rousso on the bubble to end the day. Stunned, both players headed to the rail while the other 12 remained to bag up their chips for the day.

Day 4 Chip Counts

The final 12 players will return on Saturday at 1200 PST (2100 CET) and continue with three four-handed tables of action. PokerNews will have the recap from play, so be sure to check right back here for it on Sunday.

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Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters