WPT Legends of Poker: Cunningham, Flack and Markholt Make Final 27

WPT Legends of Poker: Cunningham, Flack and Markholt Make Final 27

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Coming into the start of the third day, there were 79 players still in with a chance of winning a first place prize of well over a million dollars. When the dust had settled and the remaining chips had been bagged up, there were 27 still in the hunt.

As the action got underway, there was a steady flow of players hitting the rail. Among the casualties were November Nine finalist Kelly Kim, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Raymond Davis, Erik Seidel, David Chiu, and Mark Seif. Matt Stout also hit the rail, muttering how he couldn’t get away from his top set against his opponents royal flush. Such is life. WSOP Player of the Year Erick Lindgren also hit the rail before the payouts begun.

Play continued to tick away slowly as the bursting of the money bubble failing to see any drastic change in pace. One hand which did change the fortunes of two players came up as Justin Scott’s aces clashed with the kings of Paul Smith in a huge pre-flop pot. The dealer wasn’t on Scott’s side though, as the Ks appeared to allow Smith a massive double-up, crippling the unfortunate Scott in the process. Scott ended up leaving the tournament shortly after, while Smith guided his chip stack to an overnight chip lead.

Here’s the top ten coming into Day Four at ‘The Bike’:

1. Paul Smith - 946,000
2. Lee Markholt - 855,000
3. Amit Makhija - 842,000
4. Layne Flack - 807,000
5. Gary Najaryan - 630,000
6. Trong Nguyen - 590,000
7. Ron Jenkins - 580,000
8. Allen Cunningham - 500,000
9. Takashi Shiono - 470,000
10. Kirk Conrad - 440,000



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