The money bubble burst on Day 3 of the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) and by the end of the day, only 38 players remained from the 207 that began Tuesday’s action. A thousand players have fallen by the wayside since the tournament started (a thousand one to be exact, but that doesn’t sound as cool unless we’re talking about a super-sized dalmatian film). And even after all those eliminations and all of the chips changing hands, it is a virtual dead-heat for the top spot, with Scott Baumstein leading Yiannis Liperis, 4.240 million chips to 4.210 million chips.
Coolered on the Bubble
The hand on which the “bubble boy” went out on had to have been painful. When you are short-stacked on the bubble, you are either a) looking to fold your way to the money, b) find a monster hand to shove with pre-flop, or c) both. Paul Leckey found such a hand, pocket Kings, and made his move. He really wasn’t all that short, either, putting 235,000 chips in the middle. He wasn’t a chip leader or anything, but he wasn’t down to the felt. It’s hard to fault a guy for trying to double-up with Kings, though. Unfortunately for him, Tianle Wang had Aces and that was all she wrote.
At least PokerStars is giving him a prize package for European Poker Tour Monte Carlo for his bad luck.
Bill Perkins’ Loss is Someone Else’s Gain
During Level 19, an elimination occurred that resulted in one of the cooler, most generous things I have ever seen happen in a poker tournament. The extremely accomplished Bill Perkins was eliminated when his Ad-Ks was cracked by Max Greenwood’s Ah-Qd when Greenwood hit four hearts on the board. Ok, so a normal tough-luck bust-out. Nothing special.
But earlier in the day, Perkins tweeted that he was holding a contest. Whoever guessed the exact hole cards he would be holding when and if he busted from the PSPC would win an entry into the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event, courtesy of Mr. Perkins himself. In an interview with PokerNews, he said that he had people betting on him to cash, but he thought it would be fun to reward someone if he busts, too (he did cash, though). He (or whoever was helping him, since he was playing) went through 1,600 e-mails and ended up with one person, Todd Jeremy Vincent, who guessed correctly. So Todd is playing in the 2019 Main Event for free and I’m guessing Bill Perkins will be getting a least a free dinner out of it.
As mentioned, there are 38 players left in the PSPC going into Day 4. Everyone is now guaranteed at least $86,400, with a pay jump to six-figures when the 32nd place player is eliminated. A half dozen of the survivors are also Platinum Pass winners, so everything they win is one hundred percent profit.
2019 PokerStars Players Championship – Day 3 Chip Leaders
1. Scott Baumstein – 4,240,000
2. Yiannis Liperis – 4,210,000
3. Julien Martini – 3,250,000
4. Louis Boutin – 3,040,000
5. Ramon Colillas – 2,895,000
6. Luigi Knoppers – 2,715,000
7. Jack O’Neill – 2,525,000
8. Jason Koonce – 2,235,000
9. Luke Marsh – 2,065,000
10. Marc Perrault – 1,935,000
