Adrian Diaz Leads WSOPE Main Event with 24 Left

Spanish poker player Adrian “Amadi_17” Diaz took a narrow lead in the WSOPE Main Event yesterday after admitting he had enjoyed several lucky seat draws.

Adrian Diaz´s seat draws may have been favourable, but he also enjoyed some good fortune with the cards on Day 3 of the WSOPE Main Event. Doubling up early courtesy of an A♣ Q♦ > 7♠ 7♥ flip against Kim Sok, Diaz had sufficient chips to take advantage of the nervous play that preceded the bubble being burst (Diaz collected 200,000 chips without seeing a showdown during hand-for-hand play).

Once the bubble had burst, Adrian Diaz then became the first player to crack the 1 million chip barrier when busting out Scott Clements in 28th position A♣ 8♦ > A♦ J♣ on a board that ran 9♣ 8♥ 2♣ / 8♠ / 6♦, and at the end of the night bagged up an impressive 1,066,000 chips – narrowly ahead of Daniel Steinberg in second (1,009,000 chips) with the chasing pack led by Ivan Tikhov (809,000 chips) twenty-five Big Blinds back in third.

Intense Day 3 @ WSOPE Main Event

Day 3 of the WSOPE Main Event was about as intense a “bubble day” as there could be. Sixty-nine players returned to the Casino Barriere in Enghien-les-Bains for Level 13 (blinds 1,200/2,400 – ante 400) and, with just forty players due to cash, the action happened incredibly slowly.

Several short-stacked players enjoyed double-ups during the first couple of levels – notably Sam Holden (A♣ K♦ > Benny Spindler´s Q♣ Q♠), Daniel Negreanu (5♥ 5♦ > Kim Sok´s Q♥ Q♠) and Hans Vogt (A♣ A♠ > Shawn Buchanan´s A♦ Q♦) – and it was almost six hours into the day before the bubble finally burst.

Aido Enjoys Incredible Day

Sam Holden and Daniel Negreanu both survived the bubble, but were bust in 26th position and 25th position respectively – bring the day to a close – but Hans Vogt survived the day along with UKIPT London winner Sergio Aido, who enjoyed an incredible comeback from having just 36,400 chips after losing the majority of his stack in one of the first hands of the day.

Aido quickly recovered to double-up against Jeremy Ausmus A♠ 10♣ > 8♣ 8♠ when spiking the 10♥ on the river. He then crippled James Dempsey with another double up Q♦ Q♥ > 8♠ 8♥, found A♠ A♣ to bust David Peters (K♦ K♠) and came from behind to eliminate Patrick Schuhl A♥ 7♥ > A♦ K♥ to finish the day with 721,000 chips.

Chip Leaders Show Durability

The top five on the leaderboard coming into Day 3 also made it through to the final twenty-four players that will contest Day 4. Overnight chip leader Dominik Nitsche hit a bad patch on the bubble to chip up Fabrice Soulier, when his trip Threes were outdrawn by Soulier´s Spade Flush, but recovered when flopping two pairs with A♥ 9♥ to bust Yann Dion.

Benny Spindler was also on a recovery mission after seeing his pocket Kings cracked by Flavien Guenan´s pocket Queens. However, he bounced back during the last level of Day 3 to bust Alexandre Amiel A♦ 2♥ > 7♥ 7♦ to finish the day with 331,000 chips. Ludovic Lacay, Ariel Celestino and Fabrice Soulier also remain in contention for the €1,000,000 first prize and WSOP bracelet.

Looking Ahead to WSOPE Day 4

With the remaining twenty-four players assured of a €23,750 pay day, the goal today will be to make it into the eight players that will contest the final table on Thursday. When play resumes, there will be 75 minutes remaining in Level 18 (blinds 4,000/8,000 – ante 1,000) with those most likely to feature in tomorrow´s PokerNewsReport being:-