Bellagio Cup IV – Day 3
125 players returned into the Fontana Lounge of the Bellagio Casino on Day 3 of the Bellagio Cup IV. 100 of them could anticipate a share of the prize money, and only 32 survived the day. Chip leader is the Canadian Mike 'SirWatts' Watson.
100 Players ITM
The money bubble burst on rank 100. When only 105 players were left in the field, the game speed slowed down noticeably. None of the participants wanted to join the rails so close before reaching the money ranks, and only a few took advantage of the tight game to steal the blinds more often. As expected, bigger post-flop confrontations hardly took place during this phase.
Unlucky Fellow Bob Stupak
Bubble Boy was Bob Stupak who didn't even show up on Day 3. As it was known later, he had to go to a hospital for treatment. The exact causes aren't known, but according to rumours Stupak had to have some kind of emergency surgery.
Thus it turned into a race between Stupak's stack and the ever increasing blinds. It was very close: In the end, Stupak was only 1 place off the money. In the last hand he was all-in pre-flop in the big blind. His opponents checked the hand down and Stupak was eliminated.
Prominent Bustouts
After Stupak dropped out, the speed increased considerably again. Within a few minutes, ten players were eliminated. Afterwards, the speed remained high. Sent to the rails were amongst others Surinder Sunar,
Justin Bonomo, Steve Zolotow, Scotty Nguyen, Phil Laak, Chris Bell,
David Ulliot, Joe Sebok, David Chiu, Lee Markholt, Jennifer Tilly,
Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson and Thayer Rasmussen.
John Phan eliminates Todd Brunson
Todd Brunson was taken out of the tournament by John Phan. Brunson
raised pre-flop to 55,000. Phan re-raised to 110,000. Todd put another 7,000 on top and was thus all-in. Phan called with 
. Brunson held 
and was thus dominated by Phan with 75%. The flop came with 
and put Phan even more in the lead – 94%. Only a runner-runner would have helped Brunson now. On turn and river came the 
and the 
. Brunson had to join the rails.
Chip Count
Below the chip count after Day 3:
| WPT VII - Bellagio Cup IV $15.000 No Limit Hold'em |
||
| Rank |
Name |
Chips |
| 1 | Mike Watson | 2,272,000 |
| 2 | David Pham | 1,622,000 |
| 3 | Javed Abrahams | 1,511,000 |
| 4 | Adam Geyer | 1,355,000 |
| 5 | Ralph Perry | 1,196,000 |
| 6 | Henning Granstad | 865,000 |
| 7 | Per Ummer | 805,000 |
| 8 | Hevad Khan | 706,000 |
| 9 | Thiago Nishijima | 627,000 |
| 10 | Philippe Rouas | 612,000 |
| 11 | Alan Sass | 592,000 |
| 12 | Tai Nguyen | 525,000 |
| 13 | Glen Chorny | 524,000 |
| 14 | Wayne Chang | 486,000 |
| 15 | Jerry Van Strydonck | 482,000 |
| 16 | Aliaksandr Dzianisau | 463,000 |
| 17 | Luke Staudenmaier | 456,000 |
| 18 | Sabyl Cohen-Landrum | 443,000 |
| 19 | John Gale | 441,000 |
| 20 | Gabe Thaler | 438,000 |
| 21 | Sargon Ruya | 428,000 |
| 22 | Mathias Andersson | 416,000 |
| 23 | Tom McCormick | 412,000 |
| 24 | Zach Hyman | 402,000 |
| 25 | David Benyamine | 376,000 |
| 26 | Jimmy Tran | 372,000 |
| 27 | John Van Fleet | 355,000 |
| 28 | Ted Forrest | 338,000 |
| 29 | John Phan | 310,000 |
| 30 | Daniel Alaei | 170,000 |
| 31 | Barry Greenstein | 150,000 |
| 32 | Chris McCormack | 101,000 |
