February 09 2012, PokerNews Staff

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February 08 2012, Chad Holloway

For the past few days, the Casino Di Venezia, the oldest casino in the world, has played host to the World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix, which continued on Wednesday with Day-3 action. At the start of play, only 27 of the 155-player field remained, each looking to make the top 18 and secure a payday. Not only did the bubble burst, but the field was reduced all the way down to the final nine. Simon Ravnsbaek leads with 795,000 in chips.

It didn’t take long for the first elimination of the day to occur. After losing a race with to Konstantin Streletskiy’s , which cost about half her stack, PartyPoker Pro Kara Scott shoved all-in for 17,500 from the cutoff and was called by Andrea Carini on the button.

Showdown

It was another race for Scott. The board ran out and Scott was eliminated in 27th place. Scott was followed out the door by Carla Solinas (26th), Zoltan Szabo (25th), Maurizio Saieva (24th), Dario De Paz (23rd), Guido Chiodo (22nd), Giacomo Fundaro (21st), and Viacheslav Goryachev (20th).

The field was on the money bubble. Action folded around to Lionel Tran and he moved all-in from the small blind for around 50,000. Marcel Bjerkmann, who began the day as the chip leader, was in the big blind and decided to gamble.

Showdown

Tran was in great shape and primed to double, though the paired Bjerkmann’s jack. Unfortunately for Tran, the turn gave Bjerkmann trips and the lead. The river was of no consequence and Tran was sent to the rail as the bubble boy, guaranteeing the remaining players at least “7,225.

Once the bubble was burst, the eliminations began to mount. Gianluca Speranza was the first to go in 18th place (“7,225), followed by Giacomo Valenti in 17th place (“7,225). After Streletskiy was dispatched in 16th place (“8,540) and Erion Islamay in 15th (“8,540), fan favorite James Akenhead met an unlikely end.

It happened after his were cracked by the of Bjerkmann on a flop. Akenhead was left with just 23,000, which he committed a short time later after Simon Ravnsbaek opened for 13,000. Bjerkmann made the call, but then folded to a four-bet from Ravnsbaek, who held . Akenhead held , but could not improve and was eliminated in 14th place (“8,540).

Marko Neumann was the next to go in 13th place (“8,540) after his failed to improve against the of Carini. Some time later, the boisterous Bjerkmann, who experienced an up-and-down day after starting with the biggest stack, opened for 21,000 from the button only to have Ravnsbaek move all-in. Bjerkmann called off and the cards were turned up:

Showdown

The flop was fairly uneventful, as was the turn. The river was no help to Bjerkmann, and he was eliminated in 12th place (“9,855). Gabriele Lepore (11th – “9,855) and Andrey Gulyy (10th – “9,855) were the last two to hit the rail before action was halted at just nine players.

Day 4 is set to get back under way at 1300 CET (0400 PST) on Thursday as the final nine play down to the final table of six. Here’s a look at the chip counts when play resumes:

World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix Final Nine Chip Counts

For more on the WPT Venice Grand Prix, be sure to visit the Party Poker Blog to see what Tony G and Mike Sexton have to say from the Casino Di Venezia.

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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