March 29 2012, Chris Hall

Day 3 of the PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Campione Main Event began with 99 players, but by the end of the night, only 24 remained and PokerStars qualifier Jannick Wrang was leading the field. Wrang ended the night with 1,742,000.

Eight former EPT champions began in the Day-3 field, including the last two remaining Team PokerStars Pros, Liv Boeree and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Both managed to make the money but neither reached the end of the day. Grospellier ran kings into aces before his pocket sixes lost to Andrey Gulyy’s ace-five, which rivered a wheel to knock out Grospellier. Boeree lasted longer but was eliminated when she called all in on the river of a against Olivier Busquet, who showed to take down the pot.

The six other former EPT champions also made the money – David Vamplew, Rupert Elder, Martin Finger, Ronny Kaiser, Nicolas Chouity, and Roberto Romanello. Of that group, only Kaiser and Vamplew have managed to progress to Day 4 with hopes of becoming the EPT’s first double champion.

It didn’t take too long for the tournament to progress to the money bubble. Benas Molis was dubbed “bubble boy” when he bet then three-bet with on a board against Wrang. When Wrang pushed all in, Molis felt committed and called it off against his opponent’s . The on the turn changed nothing and the on the river gave Wrang a full house, guaranteeing the rest of the field at least a min-cash.

Once in the money, the players began to fall at a steady pace with former San Remo champion Rupert Elder the first to go. Meanwhile, a two-way battle was brewing for the chip lead with Balasz Botond and EPT Snowfest finalist Koen De Visscher jostling for position on top of the counts.

De Visscher won a huge three-way all in with aces against Nick Yunis’ kings and Bryan Piccioli’s ace-queen to put him into contention. De Visscher became the first player over the million mark after he turned a straight against Massimiliano Bellon Bellucci’s turned top two pair.

The chip lead was then passed around between several players. Busquet briefly took the lead before Wrang also had a go at the top when he had flush against flush against Stefan Czischke. Alexandre Andermatt was next to claim the spot at the top when he won the classic flip with queens against ace-king to knock out former Grand Final winner Nicolas Chouity. It was short-lived, because Andermatt then lost a one-million-chip pot when Fabrice Soulier’s outflopped Andermatt’s queens. Wrang then regained the chip lead to finish the day on top.

End of Day 3 Chip Counts

Day 4 kicks off at 1400 CEST (0500 PDT) on Friday and the remaining 24 players will play down to a final table. Be sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team for all of the action live from the felt.

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