August 28 2012, Brett Collson

Day 3 of the of the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event began with 84 players looking to burst the money bubble and move closer to the $500,000 top prize. After a long day on the felts, only 18 survived, with Cyrus Farzad and his 2.6 million chips leading the way.

With the top 63 players making the money, the bubble was reached rather quickly Monday. It burst shortly after players returned from their second break; according to the WPT Live Updates team, Elio Fox moved all-in preflop from the hijack for 90,000 (15 big blinds) and former WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko called on the button. After play ended at the other tables, Fox revealed and Timoshenko tabled , putting the former World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champ at risk and in bad shape. The didn’t provide any help to Fox, who left the tournament area empty-handed.

Each remaining player was guaranteed at least $7,500, but the focus for most was to build a big stack leading up to the final table. Among the players who cashed but fell by the wayside on Day 3 were Todd Terry (53rd – $8,200), Matt Keikoan (52nd – $8,200), Ray Henson (39th – $9,500), Jared Hamby (38th – $9,500), Dwyte Pilgrim (36th – $11,100), Isaac Baron (34th – $11,100), Erick Lindgren (33rd – $11,100), and Timoshenko (25th – $13,400).

While those players succumbed, others thrived. Cyrus Farzad took the chip lead late in the evening after winning a big pot against Jason Koon, who entered the day as one of the chip leaders. Farzad and Koon saw a flop of and both checked to see the hit the river. Koon led out for 47,000, but Farzad fired back with a raise to 200,000. Koon called, and the landed on the river. Both players opted to check, and Farzad’s for a set of nines bested Koon’s for top pair.

“Every showdown we go to, you show a set or better,” Koon said to Farzad after the hand. “If you bet the flop, I go broke. That’s how good I’m running.”

That pot pushed Farzad way out in front of the rest of the pack, and despite losing back more than a million before play ended, he still leads the way going into Tuesday. Joining Farzad near the top of the leaderboard heading into Day 4 are Greg Mueller, Stephen Graner, Jeff Madsen, Max Steinberg, and Day 2 chip leader Ali Eslami.

Koon’s “run-good” didn’t last – he was the final elimination of the day, finishing in 19th place for $13,400. After losing a crucial flip to Jesse Martin, Koon was all-in for about 90,000 chips (4.5 big blinds) with against Max Steinberg’s . The board ran out to keep Steinberg in front and send Koon out the door. With that elimination, the players bagged their chips and play concluded for the day.

Here’s a look at the remaining players going into the penultimate day of action:

2012 WPT Legends of Poker Day 3 Chip Counts

Day 4 begins Tuesday at 1300 PDT (2100 BST) and the last 18 players will play down to the six-handed televised final table. We’ll have a recap of the action at the end of the day, so be sure to keep it locked in to PokerNews.com.

Data courtesy of WorldPokerTour.com.

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August 27 2012, Brett Collson

Phil Galfond and Viktor Blom have clashed many times at high-stakes cash games. What does Galfond think of his friendly adversary? Find out that and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Ali Eslami led the way after Day 2 of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Main Event. Which notables were close on his heels? Find out in our WPT Legends recap.

How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who took down the biggest score? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.

Did you miss Sunday’s World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.

How did Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren discover poker? Find out that and more in the latest Seat Open.

Isildur1: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Why is Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom such a formidable opponent at high-stakes cash games? According to fellow nosebleed player Phil Galfond, it’s because Blom plays for the love of the game and genuinely doesn’t care about money.

In his latest blog, the always-insightful Galfond examines The Man, The Myth, The Legend known as “Isildur1.” Galfond says he’s played more hands against Blom than any other player of the length of his career, and he got to know the cagey Swede pretty well during the World Series of Poker this past summer.

Over the past three years, Galfond has examined Blom’s strengths and weaknesses as a player. But it wasn’t until he actually meant Blom that he really understood what makes him one of the game’s greats.

“Viktor’s passion for the game is his biggest strength as a player,” Galfond writes. “He told me that he likes to play most with whoever he thinks is the best in the world. I guess if you’re going to challenge yourself, you might as well REALLY challenge yourself.

“When you start thinking about the money involved, it inhibits your ability to play your best. People who approach poker purely as a job, for the financial reasons, will have a very hard time becoming the best of the best (though they may make plenty of money). To actually be great, you need to love the game. You need to have fun playing. Viktor has these covered and then some.”

We highly recommend you check out Galfond’s full blog at PhilGalfond.com.

Kyllönen’s Hefty Downpayment

One of online poker’s biggest winners of 2012 is spending some of his hard-earned profits on a trip into space.

Following in the footsteps of billionaire entrepreneur and poker enthusiast Guy Laliberté, Finnish poker pro Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen recently told CardPlayer Europe that he has paid “160,000 to reserve a seat aboard Virgin Galactic’s space flight. Kyllönen says he’ll probably make the trip in 2014 after the testing stage is complete.

Kyllönen will spend three or four days training for the flight at SpacePort America before the two-hour flight aboard Sir Richard Brandon’s space vessel.

“I’ve always been fascinated with space and now that I have the opportunity to be within the first people going I just felt like I had to do it,” Kyllönen said.

As of last week, Kyllönen was up $1,628,538 playing high-stakes cash games at PokerStars this year. He was also one of 48 players to post the $1 million buy-in for the Big One for One Drop at the World Series of Poker this past summer. Kyllönen was the third player eliminated after losing a key hand to French businessman Frederic Banjout.

Hopefully, his pricey trip to space provides a more rewarding experience.

CardPlayer Europe has more.

Delaware’s Iron Man

The Delaware Park poker room broke a Guinness World Record on Monday when a tournament was played continuously for 36 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds. The event, called the Iron Man Poker Challenge, establishment a new world record for the Longest “Documented” Continuous Poker Tournament.

The tournament began Saturday afternoon and was played to the end without any breaks. The event attracted 192 players, all of whom posted the $600 buy-in to participate. Peter Konas went on to win the tournament and $27,160 after besting Josh Palmer heads-up for the title.

Delaware Park attempted a similar record last year, but it fell short of the Guinness benchmark of 36 hours. This year’s event was reconstructed with a bigger starting stack and longer levels to allow for a better chance at making the Guinness record books.

For more, check out the live blog at DelPark.com.

Adiós, Barcelona!

The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour stop in Barcelona came to an end over the weekend. Krisztina Polgar and Kristy Arnett took a look back at some of the highlights from their trip to Spain.

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