Money Bubble Looming In The WSOP Main Event
At the start of play there were 1,738 players eager to get into their seats but by the time the curtain came down on another day of intense poker action more than 1,000 of those were no longer in the Main Event's field; just 720 players now remain
Day 3 of the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event has been completed, after five 120-minute levels were played out in the vast tournament area of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
At the start of play there were 1,738 players eager to get into their seats but by the time the curtain came down on another day of intense poker action more than 1,000 of those were no longer in the Main Event's field; just 720 players now remain. Of these 720 players just 666 of them will receive any prize money for their efforts meaning 54 players will be leaving the Rio - on Friday 13th of all dates - empty handed.
One man who is almost guaranteed to be walking away with a share of the massive $62,021,200 prize pool is the overnight chip leader Dave "doubledave22" D'Alesandro who managed to end the day with a huge stack of 1,100,000 chips. D'Alesandro blended into the crowd like a well camouflaged chameleon for a large portion of the day but during the last level of the night, Level 15, he went on the mother of all heaters and the giant towers of colourful ceramic discs he had in his possession made it impossible to hide from the prying eyes of the poker media.
D'Alesandro was one of four players to make it through to Day 4 with a seven-figure stack; the others being Sean Rice (1,076,000), Jacob Balsiger (1,065,000) and Leo Wolpert (1,003,500). Although nothing is certain in poker you would bet good money on these players at least helping themselves to a min-cash worth $19,227.
Another player who looks set to at least cash is the United Kingdom's Daniel Rudd who bagged up 834,500 chips at the end of the night, enough to place him in seventh place. Rudd is yet to add a live cash to his Hendon Mob database during 2012 but that is almost certainly to add to his $168,631 career winnings. Rudd will be joined by fellow Brits Craig McCorkell (638,500), double WSOP bracelet winner JP Kelly (506,000), Karim Jomeen (485,000) amongst others.
Our European cousins are also well represented going into Day 4, the best placed of them being Juen Alban from Lyon, France. Alban and his 786,500 chips will start in 16th place. Other European players include Erik Hellman (746,000), Davide Catalano of Italy (652,000), Denmark's Lasse Soerensen (646,000) and Jan Kasten of German (636,000).
Play resumes at noon Las Vegas time (20:00 UK time) and will continue until five more 120-minute level have been played. The money bubble us guaranteed to burst to make sure you tune into these very pages tomorrow to find out who that unfortunate soul was and to see who is still in with a chance of becoming this year's Main Event champion.
WSOP Main Event Day 4 Top 10 Chip Counts
1st: Dave D'Alesdandro - 1,100,000
2nd: Sean Rice - 1,076,000
3rd: Jacob Balsiger - 1,065,000
4th: Leo Wolpert - 1,033,500
5th: Ben Greenberg - 963,000
6th: A.J. Jejelowo - 928,500
7th: Daniel Rudd - 834,500
8th: Jonathan Seelbach - 824,000
9th: Michael Ferrell - 821,000
10th: Paul Volpe - 820,000
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
