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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September 12 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

It’s Monday, so we’re back at it. Over the weekend, Sorel Mizzi added a high-roller title to his already impressive list of earnings. On top of that, we learned a little bit about the cast of the new Survivor series, and more. We’re going to share that with you now, so enjoy.

In Case You Missed It

We know that being healthy is important to a lot of poker players. One way to do that is with fresh produce. For the latest episode of the Sin City Series, Sarah Grant got to check out the farmers market in downtown Las Vegas recently to speak with some of the vendors and the organizer.

Just because the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is off and running doesn’t mean the Sunday Majors are taking a break. Get caught up on all of the results from some of the biggest Sunday tournaments in the Sunday Briefing.

On Day 8 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, no bracelets were awarded, but two of the series’ biggest prize pools were created. Check out our daily WCOOP recap to find out who moved on to Day 2 of Events #21 and #22.

Looking for a book to help advance your poker game? Check out our book review of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker.

World Poker Tour Paris High Roller

On Friday, the “15,000 buy-in high roller kicked off at the 2011 World Poker Tour Rendez-Vous à Paris. Among the 36 players who entered was last year’s winner, Freddy Deeb, and last year’s runner-up, Sorel Mizzi. Would history repeat itself? A “521,100 prize pool was created and “234,495 was reserved for first place.

Mizzi moved into the second day of play as the chip leader, and when five players were left on Sunday, Mizzi tweeted:

Sure enough, it was déjà vu for Mizzi and Deeb, but this time, there was a twist. On a flop of Deeb shipped his remaining stack in the middle holding . Mizzi snap-called, tabling . The turn and river blanked for Deeb, giving Mizzi the title and the “234,495 first-place prize.

WPT Paris High Roller Results

Read more at FR.PokerNews.com.

The Tribe Will Speak – Eventually

Survivor: South Pacific kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. EDT. We’re not huge Survivor fans, seeing as how there is nothing about living on an island with little to no food, with people we would probably loathe that’s appealing. Regardless of our thoughts on the show, there’s a poker aspect to the new season, and that’s why you’re reading about the reality show in the Nightly Turbo.

One of the 18 Survivor: South Pacific cast members is a bit of a poker player. Jim Rice, or James Rice III if you searching him on Hendon Mob, will be part of the Savaii Tribe this season. In his bio on CBS.com, his current occupation is listed as a medical marijuana dispenser. Other than working on Wall Street, his personal claim to fame is winning over 40 poker tournaments. We’re not sure which poker tournaments he’s talking about, probably home games, because his Hendon Mob results only lists five cashes, one of which was a win.

We’re just curious if he reached out to Jean-Robert Bellande for tips on surviving.

Find out more at CBS.com.

UKIPT Dublin Update

The PokerStars UK & Ireland Poker Tour kicked off on Thursday last week. Through two Day 1 starts, the field attracted 718 players, creating a prize pool of “348,230. Among the field were notables, Dermot Blain, Liv Boeree, Rebecca McAdam, David Vamplew, Andy Black, Dominik Nitsche, and Jude Ainsworth.

McAdam finished in 55th place (“975) and Dermot Blain bowed out in 16th (“2,050). PokerStars player Jason Tompkins went into the final table with the chip lead but could not hang on to it. He was eliminated in fifth place. PokerStars qualifier Joeri Zandvliet ended up walking away with the “83,500 first-place prize when he rivered the holding and bested Chuck Fabian’s on a board of .

To get a look at all of the action from the UKIPT, check out the PokerStars Blog.

Partouche Poker Tour Begins

The Partouche Poker Tour kicked off on Monday in Cannes, France, at the Palm Beach Casino. The “8,500 buy-in event boasted a guarantee of “4 million. A number of well-known pros showed up for the event, including Vanessa Selbst, who won the event last year, Jean-Robert Bellande, Arnaud Mattern, Phil Laak, and Men Nguyen.

We’re not fluent in French, so it’s difficult to bring you updates, because it’s all in French, but this video is an interview with Phil Hellmuth and half of it is in English, so bon appétit!

There are chip counts for the event at PartouchePoker.com.

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