Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino near Los Angeles saw 152 survivors from a starting field of 791 taking their seats with ambitions to win the main prize of $2.4 million or at the very least make the money bubble cut by finishing in the top 54 spots.
With such an impressive roster of big name players, making the final table will be a major achievement in terms of reputation and the monetary rewards for doing that will be significant – every player on that final table will leave with at least a quarter million dollars, and the second place finisher will collect over a million.
JC Tran’s Day 2 chip lead was seriously eroded early on in a $400 000 pot clash with Jacobo Fernandes, who later on took another big pot from Ari Goott to build a formidable stack.
Meanwhile, the 2006 WSOP runner-up Paul Wasicka was building a strong position too, making the half million mark after busting Joe Tehan.
Following the dinner break the remaining players took up positions at nine tables and the air of caution was apparent in careful and slow play with few action-packed incidents – the objective was clearly to make the money on the way to that final table. The attrition rate was correspondingly slow, with ten players falling in just over two hours. Paul Wasicka had maintained his steady build-up which reached $800 000 and the chiplead following a clash with Parimal Parmar, and he went up past the million only to fall back later as the fortunes of the game turned against him.
When the cash cut was finally reached it was Australian player Jimmy Sachindis who just missed it as the Bubble Boy, heading for the door in 55th place and losing his chance at a minimum payout of $22 780.
There are now 54 survivors both in the money and heading for Day 4, including Bill Edler, Jason Strasser, JC Tran, Paul Wasicka, CK Hua, Greg Mueller, Chris Bell, Joe Awada, Ed Moncada, Vincent Procopio, Ari Engel, Nam Le, Chau Giang, Isaac Haxton, Kristy Gazes, Nick Schulman, and Lee Markholt.
Bill Edler has the chip lead with a $696 000 stack, followed closely by Jason Strasser on $677 000 and at least another nine players in the half million dollar region.
The inclusion of Isaac Haxton in the middle of the field is an especially heartening note, given the misfortune that has seen his last tournament winnings of over $800 000 frozen in the Neteller debacle (see previous reports)
It was farewell to another slew of top players that included Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Minh Ly, Ted Forrest, Crispin Leyser, Toto Leonidas, Daniel Alaei, Steve Brecher, Brian Haveson, Ali Eslami, Anthony Mak, Jesse Jones, Quinn Do, Dan Schmeich, Joe Tehan, Nenad Medic, Steve Dannenmann, Lori Conn, Eugene Todd, Parhlad Friedman, Tim Phan, and Matthew Szymaszek.