October 02 2012, Chad Holloway, Donnie Peters, Josh Cahlik

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued on Tuesday with Day 3 of the “10,450 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. The “50,000 Majestic High Roller kicked off and attracted Tom Dwan and Erik Seidel among others. Find out about these stories and more in our recap thanks to PokerNews’ coverage sponsored by PartyPoker.

Cheong Leads Final 24; Hellmuth, Mercier & Boeree Still in the Hunt in Event #7: “10,450 Main Event

On Tuesday, the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event continued with Day 3 action from the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, France. The remaining 77 players from a 420-player field returned for six levels of play, during which time the money bubble burst. By the end of the night, Joseph Cheong emerged as the chip leader with 24 players remaining. He faces some stiff competition as Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, and Liv Boeree are still in contention.

The day wasn’t as kind to everyone; in fact, 29 players went home empty handed on Day 3. Jonathan Little, Jean-Robert Bellande, Alex Bilokur, Sam Trickett, Tobias Reinkemeier, Dan Smith, Martin Jacobson, Sam Cohen and Aaron Lim, were just a few of the players who were eliminated before the bubble burst.

On the money bubble, October Niner Jesse Sylvia moved all in for his last 45,500 and was called by Cheong. The crowd gathered around filled with media members and players eager to see if they made the money. The hands were revealed to find that Sylvia was in need of some help.

The flop fell and Cheong retained his lead. It wouldn’t be an exciting bubble hand without a sweat, however, and the on the turn did just that. Sylvia needed to catch either a diamond or an ace on the river to stay alive in the tournament. Unfortunately for Sylvia, the came down on fifth street and he was forced to settle for the title of bubble boy. On his way out, Sylvia was wished good luck for the WSOP Main Event Final Table where he stands to win up to $8,527,982 later this month.

Once in the money, the eliminations mounted rapidly. Justin Bonomo (48th – “20,150), Daniel Weinman (47th – “20,150), Daniel Negreanu (43rd – “20,150) and Eugene Katchalov (40th – “21,250) were a few of the people who fell quick. It was at that point that Elio Fox, who outlasted a field of 593 players to win “1,400,000 in this very event last year, had his bid at a title defense just cut short.

In his last hand, action folded around to Jason Mercier on the button and he raised to 10,000. Fox then moved all in for approximately 80,000 from the big blind and Mercier made the call.

Both players held an ace, but Mercier had the better kicker. That’s what ended up making the difference as the board ran out and Fox followed up last year’s win with a 39th-place finish for “21,250.

Others who joined him on the rail before night’s end were Fung Cheing (37th – “21,250), Prosper Masquelier (36th – “21,250), Bruno Fitoussi (35th – “21,250), JC Alvarado (33rd – “21,250), Emil Patel (31st – “22,982), Philipp Gruissem (29th – “22,982), Ben Roberts (26th – “22,982) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (25th – “22,982).

While many fell, others managed to navigate the tough field and advance to Day 4. They include 2005 WSOP runner-up Steve Dannenmann; high-stakes legend David Benyamine; former EPT winners Boeree and Toby Lewis; last year’s eighth-place finisher Max Silver; the always-entertaining Scott Seiver; two-time bracelet winner Andy Frankenberger; and of course 12-time bracelet winner Hellmuth.

Here’s a look at the top ten End-of-Day-3 chip counts:

2012 WSOP Europe End-of-Day-3 Top Ten Counts

The plan for Day 4 on Wednesday is for the remaining 24 players to play down to the final table of eight. Play is scheduled to kick off at 1200 CEST (0600 EDT) and PokerNews will be on hand to bring you all the action and eliminations from the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event.

“50,000 Majestic High Roller

Day 1 of the “50,000 Majestic High Roller came and went on Tuesday. With 43 entries throughout the day and just a few eliminations, Wednesday’s Day 2 will be the real test of everyone’s poker skill. At the end of play on Tuesday night, John Juanda held the lead with 538,500 in chips.

Juanda is no stranger to big buy-in events, and he’s come out in a fury here in this one, but things didn’t start off well for him. Juanda was eliminated not once, but twice and is working with his third bullet in the event. Thanks to a huge clash with Marvin Rettenmaier, though, two rockets catapulted Juanda into the lead during the last level of the night.

Along with Juanda, plenty of notable players were in action and have advanced to Day 2. Daniel Negreanu, Sam Trickett, Tom Dwan, Tony G and Erik Seidel will all be back for play on Wednesday.

Eugene Katchalov and current Octo-Niner Gregory Merson were two players who were eliminated on the day and opted not to rebuy. Wang Qiang was also eliminated and opted not to fire off another “50,000.

After a late start for Day 1, Wednesday’s Day 2 will be much of the same as play begins at 1600 CET (1000 EDT). Registration will remain open through the first level of play, and that’s also how long the rebuy period will remain open. Be sure to return right back PokerNews coverage, and we’ll see you then.

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July 10 2012, Chad Holloway

When it comes to Kevin Pollak, you no doubt associate him with big-time Hollywood films rather than poker. Pollak has starred in dozens of films and televisions shows and has such iconic roles under his belt as Rool in Willow, Jacob Goldman in Grumpy Old Men, Todd Hockney in The Usual Suspects, and Phillip Green in Casino. With that said, he did break into the poker world a few years ago when he hosted the first season of Celebrity Poker Showdown.

After a lengthy hiatus from the game, Pollak has decided to venture back into poker and has traveled to the World Series of Poker for the first time to play in the $10,000 Main Event. Not only did he play Day 1a of the Main Event, but also he survived with a stack of 43,900. That means he will be back in action on Tuesday for Day 2a/b and seated at Table 372 where he’ll face some stiff competition in tablemates Kevin MacPhee and Todd Barlow.

Of course you can follow Pollak’s Main Event progress in our live blog, but in the meantime check out PokerNews‘ recent interview with Pollak where he talks a little poker:

We’ve seen you in the poker world in year’s past, but we’ve never seen you here at the WSOP. What brings you here for the Main Event?

First time at the Main Event here at the World Series of Poker, and I’m here representing HollywoodPoker.com where the fans have an opportunity to upload their best poker face at Hollywood Poker. We’re giving away prizes every day. I’m sort of the new ambassador for the site, gathering celebrities, taking photos of celebrities along with myself. I’ve taken a few already, I’ll be taking a bunch more during the Mai Event and upload them to the site.

I’m shooting video blogs everyday and trying to tweet out my experience at the tables, just trying to make it a fan experience as much as possible, which is one of the things we’re trying to do at Hollywood Poker. In fact, if people follow us on Twitter @HollywoodPoker, go to Facebook, you can win prizes that we’re giving away everyday.

How did you first learn to play poker?

I was young. My cousin was older, I was probably 10 or 11 years old, and I saw my cousin coming home from playing poker with his friend. He’d not only have their money but he’d have their possessions as well. I thought, ‘How do you do that?’ He taught me how to play, but it wasn’t really until I was here in Las Vegas shooting the movie Casino for the great Martin Scorsese that I was stuck at the Riviera for 20 weeks.

If you’ve ever anytime there, you know I’m not kidding when I say stuck. So I spent most of my time hanging out in the poker room when I wasn’t shooting. One of the pit bosses there saw me, sort of took me aside, and said, ‘You play a lot of poker, huh?’ I said yes and he said, ‘You play at cash games at home, right?’ I said yes again and he said, ‘Well that won’t work here. You’re playing against pros so you gotta learn a different game.”

I became a great student and fan of playing poker against grinders, pros, and the seventh-level of Spock chess that goes on at the table. That’s what I find fascinating now.

Have you had the chance to get to know any poker pros?

I see Annie Duke all the time, she’s been on my chat show, I do a live-streaming talk show on the Internet every Sunday afternoon. Annie’s been a guest. I hosted the first season of Celebrity Poker Showdown with Phil Gordon, still a friend. I’ve met a lot and played with a lot of pros, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, and all the Phils.

If you had the opportunity to star in a poker-related movie, would that be something of interest to you?

I’ve read several scripts, so far they’ve all sucked, but I looked forward to a good one.

What would you rather have, the World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet or an Academy Award?

Main Event bracelet, unless of course you could figure out a way for me to wear the Oscar. See, that’s the thing, I can wear the bracelet. No, no, the WSOP Main Event bracelet would be far greater than an Oscar. I’ve already got a film career. [Laughs]

Speaking of your film career, of all the characters you’ve portrayed, who do you think would be the best poker player?

Probably Hockney from the Usual Suspects because he was a badass and wouldn’t take shit from anybody. He was a sociopath, so he’d probably do better playing poker as a sociopath.

*Lead picture courtesy of AV Club.

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