July 13 2012, Shari Geller

On Day 47 of the 2012 World Series of Poker, the entire surviving field of Main Event entrants was under the same roof for the first time. The remaining 1,765 players sat down together to play five two-hour levels on Day 3 in the Brasilia Room and the Amazon Room at the Rio. By the time the final level of the night was completed, just 720 players remained, with Dave “doubledave22″ D’Alesandro and his 1.1 million chip stack leading the way.

2012 World Series of Poker Main Event: Day 3

Gaelle Baumann was the leader with 505,800 in chips when the day began. She remained at the top of the leaderboard through the first level of play, but was passed as her chip stack stayed about the same throughout the day. She finished with 599,000, more than double the average chip stack.

Two-time bracelet winner and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst will be back for Day 4, thanks to a very lucky double up late in the day. In the pivotal hand, she check-raised all in for over 200,000 with a board reading . Her opponent snap-called, turning over for a flopped set. Selbt tabled for a gutshot and flush draw semi-bluff. Selbst stood up from her seat, ready to say her goodbyes, and congratulated her opponent on his good call, before the dealer turned over the on the river. That winning flush brought her up to 540,000 chips and she finished the day in 12th place with 814,000.

Several well-known players will be returning on Day 4 with varying chip stacks. Joining chip D’Alesandro in the million chip club are Sean Rice (1,076,000), Jacob Balsiger (1,065,000), and Leo Wolpert (1,003,500). There are still many notables remaining in the field include 2011 WSOP Circuit Regional Champion A.J. Jejelowo (928,500), Sorel Mizzi (738,000), Jason Somerville (637,000), Shaun Deeb (598,000), Lee Childs (570,000), Antonio Esfandiari (485,000), Mike “Timex” McDonald (396,000), Maria Ho (382,000), John Juanda {357,500}, David “ODB” Baker (291,500), Jackie Glazer (187,000), Daniel Negreanu (109,000), and former November Niners Eric Buchman (478,000), Sam Holden (424,500), Phil Collins (252,500) and Joseph Cheong (237000).

Before the dinner break, we lost four former Main Event champs-Pius Heinz, Peter Eastgate, Jerry Yang and Robert Varkonyi-as well as many notables including Abe Mosseri, Sam Farha, Kurt Jewell, John Racener, Chris Tryba, Adam Levy, Jeff Shulman, Dean Hamrick, Marco Traniello, James Dempsey, Taylor von Kriegenbergh, Nenad Medic, Nam Le, Gabe Kaplan, Bryn Kenney, Aaron Steury, Michael Benvenuti, Farzad Bonyadi, Karina Jett, Soi Nguyen, Nick Schulman, Tristan Wade, Brian Hastings, Ryan Eriquezzo and PokerStars Team Pros Barry Greenstein, Vicky Coren, Christophe De Meulder, and Eugene Katchalov.

Dan Harrington was in position to join Johnny Chan and Huck Seed as the only previous winners of this event to move on to Day 4, but he lost most of his chips to Evan Jarvis with against after the board ran out . In his last hand, Harrington three-bet all in from the button with and the original raiser called with . Harrington failed to improve and he was sent to the rail.

In just two hands, Ben Lamb saw his run for another Main Event final table come to an end. In the first, Lamb had four-bet all in and his shorter-stacked opponent called for 94,600 total. Lamb was in trouble with pocket jacks versus pocket queens, and found no help on the board. Lamb was down to about a dozen big blinds and, a few hands later, he put them at risk with pocket fives. Chris Moorman called him from the small blind with . Moorman went ahead on the flop and stayed there as the board ran out . Lamb was on his way out of the tournament short of the money.

Among the many eliminated during the last two levels of the night were Faraz Jaka, Jason Lester, Leif Force, Shannon Shorr, Phil Galfond, Michael Binger, Will “The Thrill” Failla, Brett Richey, David Pham, PokerStars Team Pros Toni Judet and Alex Kravchenko, Todd Witteles, Jake Cody, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Eoghan O’Dea, Kelly Kim, and 2006 runner-up Paul Wasicka.

On Tap

On Friday, the remaining 720 players from Day 3 of the Main Event will return at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) to the Amazon Room to play five more levels. The first order of business is breaking the money bubble at 666 players. After that, expect the action to really heat up as the remaining players try to build up their chip stacks as we cross the halfway point of the Main Event.

PokerNews will be there to cover all of the exciting action as we approach the magic number 666 and then as we move from making it to the money to building a big stack for a deep run. We will have all the updates, hands, chip counts, bust-outs and more from the Rio in our live reporting blog, so make to follow our coverage throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Lynn Gilmartin talks during the dinner break with Shaun Deeb about his good run so far, his “volatile” table, and the pluses and minuses of sitting at a televised table. Deeb also talked about what he did after winning the $1 million at the One Drop satellite.

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July 10 2012, Shari Geller

On Monday, the third and last starting flight of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event attracted the largest one-day field in Main Event history. By the time registration closed on Day 1c, 3,418 players had put up the $10,000 buy-in to take their shots at the most coveted bracelet in poker. At the end of five levels of play, Randy Haddox, who had final-tabled the $5K NLHE Mixed-Max earlier this summer, was the Day 1c chip leader with 188,275 chips.

The record-breaking field was packed with notables, including many players who have made deep runs in this event. Former Main Event bracelet winners Joe Cada (117,375), Johnny Chan (82,300), Jamie Gold (24,800), Tom McEvoy (24,125) and Doyle Brunson (81,400) will be among those moving on to Day 2c, but Chris Moneymaker and Jonathan Duhamel, were among those who failed to make it through the day. Early on Monday, it looked like Brunson would be skipping the Main Event entirely, but a late-in-the-day change of heart brought him to the Rio in time to build up a nice-size chip stack.

Other well-known players who survived Day 1c include Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari (78,925), $50K Poker Players Championship repeat winner Michael Mizrachi (60,050), 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (33,525), and current 2012 WSOP POY frontrunner Phil Ivey (11,525) who won three back-to-back pots just to move back up to 20,000 in chips, but ended the day down almost a two-thirds of his starting stack.

They will be joined by plenty of other players including Brandon Adams (158,100), Jake Cody (124,675), Sorrel Mizzi (115,000), Matt Affleck (91,300), John Juanda (74,450), Gus Hansen (67,575), recent bracelet winner Nick Schulman (58,000) and former Seinfeld cast member Jason Alexander (49,550).

Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who is playing his first WSOP Main Event, ended the day with a very healthy 110,225-chip stack. In one hand that helped propel him up the chip counts, an early-position raiser made it 700, a middle-position player called, and the player in the cutoff three-bet to 2,600. Blom then four-bet to 5,800 from the big blind, the other two players got out of the way, and the cutoff five-bet to 12,000. Blom tanked before putting out 18,400 for a six-bet. His opponent moved all-in and Blom somewhat reluctantly called. Blom was in trouble, to the of his opponent. But the board ran out and he doubled to 90,000 in chips.

Former November Niner Joseph Cheong built up a good-sized stack (84,775), courtesy in large part to two double-ups during the last level of the night. In the first, he was up against Brandon Adams, who had him well covered. Cheong led every street and moved all-in on the river of a board. Adams called and then mucked when Cheong turned over pocket jacks. Cheong then tweeted his next double up, “coolered a poor kid KK vs his AK after he told me he felt like this was my lvl.”

While Cheong thrived, a number of other notables failed to survive including Chino Rheem, David “Bakes” Baker, Olivier Busquet, George Lind, Max Martinez, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, David Bach, Jonathan Little, Nacho Barbero, Cory Zeidman, Bryan Micon, Andrew Robl, Lex Veldhuis, Matt Waxman, Humberto Brenes and Vincent van der Fluit, among many others experiencing a very brief Main Event run.

Coming back, though short stacked with 8,150, is Ted Forrest, who was very unlucky late in the day. In one hand, 17,000 was already in the pot when the dealer spread the flop. Forrest check-called his opponent’s all-in shove for 27,325. Forrest was way ahead, to the of his opponent. But his opponent went from two outs on the king-high flop, to 11 outs on the turn, to winning when the hit the river. Late in the day he was poised for a small double up when he had against his opponent’s on a flop. But the board ran out and the best he could do was a chop.

With the Day 1c field added to the previous two days’ flights, the 2012 WSOP Main Event had a total of 6,598 players creating a total prize pool of $62,021,200. The top 10 percent of the field, 666 players, will be guaranteed at least $19,227. Those making the final table will earn at least $754,798, with the first-place finisher cashing in an $8,527,982 payday.

On Tap

On Tuesday, the 657 players remaining from Day 1a and the remaining 1,387 players from Day 1b will return at 1200 PDT (2000 BST) to play five more levels. They will play in separate tournament rooms rather than be combined as in previous years, with players returning to either Day 2a or 2b and playing with just that group of players. On Wednesday, the remaining players from Day 1c will return for Day 2c and play five levels, as well. The entire field will finally be combined on Thursday for Day 3 action.

PokerNews will make sure you don’t miss any of the exciting Day 2 action as players try to build their stacks hoping to make a deep run. We will have all the updates, hands, chip counts, bust-outs and more from the Rio in our live reporting blog, so make to follow our coverage throughout the day.

Video of the Day

In the Video of the Day, Sarah Grant talks with 2011 WSOP POY Ben Lamb during a break in the action about what it takes to make a Main Event final table, strategy and advice for maintaining stamina, and to what he attributes his new toned and tanned self.

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