Day 3 and its seven levels are in the books for the 2016 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and, although they didn’t pop the money bubble on Wednesday, Ryan Hughes was able to lead the tournament for the second consecutive day.
277 players came back to chairs with chips in front of them on Wednesday with the goal of popping that said money bubble and starting to hand out some of the $7 million-plus prize pool to players. Not only was Hughes in good shape to start the day, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly was right on his heels in second. Toss in such names as Anthony Spinella, David ‘The Dragon’ Pham and Justin Bonomo lurking down in the Top Ten and the day was set for some frenetic poker action.
Of interest to the railbirds in attendance (and a subject that comes up on occasion) is just how A) difficult the field is, and B) whether the tournament is geared towards the pros at the expense of the “amateur” players. The $10,000 buy in tournament was unlimited entries until the beginning of Level 9 on Tuesday and 791 entries were received, tying a WPT record. In an intriguing breakdown, 205 players individually counted for multiple “re-entry” into the Five Diamond. 152 of those players bought in twice, 43 players bought in three times and 10 players bought in four times OR MORE to reach the 791 entries. Hence, the 205 multi-buyers (accounting for at least 473 entries) along with the minimum 318 players who took one shot give the poker community evidence to debate the issue.
For some, it didn’t matter. Coming back to short stacks meant that they were either coming back to make their rush at the WPT Five Diamond title or they were heading back out the same doors they had just entered. Lily Kiletto was one of these unfortunate individuals as, with only about 9K from her original starting stack of 30K, she took a suited Ace against Barry Hutter’s pocket Jacks. Although she would flop her kicker, Kiletto couldn’t find trips or the flush and was out of the tournament early.
One of the people who benefitted from the multiple reentry process was former NFL defensive lineman Richard Seymour. In for at least three buy ins because he ran pocket Kings into pocket Aces twice over the first two days, Seymour saw his fortunes brighten a bit on Day 3. He doubled up through Daryll Fish and slowly chipped up throughout the day. Although he’ll at least have to finish in 42nd place or higher to get his buy ins back (that position pays $32,225), Seymour is in position to cash with his 230,000-chip stack to start Thursday.
The news wasn’t as good for a couple of ladies in the event. Cate Hall, who took the WPT by storm during Season XIV in making a couple of televised final tables (including this one), was ambling along nicely before getting involved in a three-way hand with Gerald Karlic and Hutter. After three betting Hutter’s raise, Hall watched him push all in for his stack and Karlic get out of the way. Hall, barely covering Hutter’s stack, took a lengthy tank of about 10 minutes (and involved a TD countdown after the clock was called) before calling. When the cards came up, everyone at the table was stunned.
While Hutter had a pocket pair, it was of Jacks, not Kings or Aces as had been expected. Hall’s holdings were suspect to begin with, an off suit A-10 that was alive against Hutter but with only one over card (and not an expected big pair). When the board ran out seven high, Hutter scored a huge double to over 313K in chips and Hall was left with scraps; soon after this clash, Hutter put Hall out of her misery in eliminating her from the tournament.
The other lady who had difficulties was Tilly. Starting the day with a plentiful 279,100 in chips, Tilly would go on a rollercoaster ride through the day that had her commenting on Twitter, “How quickly can you go from ‘I’m going to win $1.9 million!’ to ‘Oooh, I hope I can min-cash?’” The answer to the question? How about not even the min-cash?
Tilly was the victim of a massive cooler that had more drama than most films she reads the scripts for. After a flurry of betting against Jesse Sylvia, Tilly was all in pre-flop with pocket Kings against Sylvia’s pocket Aces. A King in the window of a K-10-9 flop pushed Tilly into the lead and had Sylvia lamenting that unfortunate card. A trey kept Tilly in the lead but an Ace on the river changed everything. In one card, Tilly went from a double to keep her dream of a cash alive to out of the tournament short of the dinner break.
The constant throughout the day was Hughes, who never was seriously challenged. He’ll enter the Fontana Lounge at the Bellagio on Thursday as the chip leader (and the only player over a million chips) for the second day in a row:
Ryan Hughes, 1,212,500
Christian Harder, 829,500
James Romero, 771,000
Justin Bonomo, 767,500
Yan Lavrovsky, 720,500
Tony Utnage, 678,000
Chris Klodnicki, 586,500
Christian Christner, 565,000
Ron Paolucci, 529,000
Sergi Reixach, 528,000
Thursday’s Day 4 will feature another seven levels of play, with the first order of business getting to the money bubble. With only 75 players left (72 get paid), that should be done in rather quick order. It’s then on to determining the final three tables for Friday’s play ahead of Championship Saturday for the WPT Five Diamond.
