Day 3 has been completed at the 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #46: the $50,000 The Poker Players Championship and though the tournament has not reached the money yet, the finish line approaches. Just 22 players remain out of the 55 that started play on Tuesday and with eight eliminations today, the money bubble will burst. Abe Mosseri, gunning for his first final table in this event, leads the survivors with 1,727,000 chips.
After Mosseri, there is a gap in the standings, but the next few players are jammed together. Brandon Shack-Harris has 1,185,000 chips, followed by Matt Glantz with 1,083,000, Robert Mizrachi with 1,020,000, and Frank Kassela with 1,004,000. Vladimir Shchemelev is the shortest stack remaining in the tournament, nursing a stump of 138,000 chips.
Mosseri began to make his run in the middle of the day when he locked horns with Mike Leah in a big No-Limit Hold’em hand. Calvin Anderson raised pre-flop to 12,000, Mosseri called, Leah shoved for 125,000, and Mosseri called after Anderson folded. Mosseri turned over Q♥-Q♦ and a none-too-thrilled Leah showed 4♦-5♦. The flop came down 7♦-K♠-3♣, giving Leah a gutshot straight draw and then the 4♣ on the turn paired him, giving him additional outs. But the 7♠ on the river was no help and Leah was shown the door. Meanwhile, Abe Mosseri’s stack was up to 1,100,000.
Late in the night, Mosseri hit another big hand, knocking out both Chris Klodnicki and John Monnette in one fell swoop. It was a 2-7 Triple Draw hand and Mosseri took four cards on the first draw. Surprisingly, though, he only called for one on the second draw. It was a heck of a first draw, as it turned out, as Mosseri eventually turned over 8-6-4-3 and then flipped over a 2 on the final card for an eighty-six. Monnette had no shot with T-8 as his highest cards, but Klodnicki was alive with 6-5-4-2. Unfortunately for him, he drew a Jack on the final card and couldn’t beat Mosseri. That hand took Mosseri’s chip stack to about where it is now.
As one would expect in a tournament with this kind of buy-in, many of the remaining players have won WSOP bracelets in the past. With 13 of the 22 owning a piece of poker jewelry, there’s a decent chance we’ll have a repeat bracelet winner and, of course, the final table should be packed with talent. There will not be a repeat winner of the Players Championship, though, as all pas t champs have been eliminated.
One player to watch: Melissa Burr, who is aiming to become the first woman to cash in this event. She currently sits in 12th place (so in the money as it stands now) with 622,000 chips.
2014 World Series of Poker Event #46: the $50,000 The Poker Players Championship – Day 3 Chip Leaders
1. Abe Mosseri – 1,727,000
2. Brandon Shack-Harris – 1,185,000
3. Matt Glantz – 1,083,000
4. Robert Mizrachi – 1,020,000
5. Frank Kassela – 1,004,000
6. Scott Seiver – 886,000
7. Elior Sion – 800,000
8. James Obst – 758,000
9. Jonathan Duhamel – 747,000
10. Jesse Martin – 726,000
