WSOP Event #57: Day 3 With Trader, Allanon and Nazgul

Team PokerStrategy.com was well represented on Day t3, with three out of four players still in the race for the most desired bracelet of them all. Trader, Nazgul and Allanon were all going to fight for the biggest prize of the year. They all started with decent stacks, hovering a bit above average for Nazgul and Trader, and just below average for Allanon.

A total of 1,718 players appeared on the start of Day 3 and only around 800 of them managed to advance into Day 4. The first 648 places, top ten percent, will be paid out. So on Day 4, we can expect the play to reach the bubble in the second or third blind level.

Nazgul (pictured left) started the day still being ill and tanking up on vitamin drinks in order to feel better. Yet it didn't affect his game too much he said, it was just really tiring afterwards, because each day you play twelve hours.

Still fresh, early in the day, Nazgul raised 5-3s from the button after everyone folded to him. The big blind re-raised him and Nazgul decided that it was a good spot to make a move so early on, he four-bet his five high and the small blind made a very difficult thinking face. After five minutes of contemplating he concluded by throwing his hand into the muck. Later on he claimed he had A-Q in that hand.

Nazgul said: "After I showed him my five high when I just four-bet him, he seemed to be a little on tilt. He tried to get involved in many hands with me."

A big hand took place a couple orbits afterwards when Nazgul picked up pocket kings on the button and made it two and a half times the big blind to go. Again the big blind three bet him, this time to 11,000. Nazgul decided to trap him and just smooth called. Flop came and the big blind fired out 13,000 into the pot. Nazgul again flat called and the turn came . Both players checked. River came the and the big blind put a big bet out there close to 40,000. Nazgul called with his over-pair and the big blind turned over . Nazgul was down to 34,000 in chips.

The two players were really trying to take advantage of the other as two orbits later they got it in against each other again. This time Nazgul had pocket kings against his pocket tens. They held up and he doubled up to 70,000.

Nazgul's most interesting hand was probably against the tournament legend Dan Harrington, who was sitting directly to his left in the last blind level of the day. Action was folded around to Nazgul in the small blind and he raised it up to 8,500, holding . Harrington quickly made the call and they saw a flop: . Nazgul made a continuation bet on the flop and Harrington again quickly called him. The turn came , completing the flush draw and Nazgul decided to check. Harrington bet 16,000 and Nazgul instantly called. The river was a giving Nazgul a full house. He checked it to Harrington who thought for a bit and then placed a bet of 37,000 out there. Nazgul snap-shoved it all-in without hesitation and Harrington looked stunned. After counting all the chips, Harrington sighed and made the call with .

Nazgul has secured himself a healthy pot for Day 4 of the main event, with 194,500 in chips. The average for Day 4 will be 225,000.

Trader (pictured right) didn't have a very successful day. Each play he made, lost him some chips. After watching the table a bit to get a feel for his opponents, he three- bet QJs from the button against the loosest player on the table so far who opened from middle position. 

Flop came down and Trader made a continuation bet, which got check called by his opponent. The turn is a and Trader decided to put in a second barrel. He got check called again and gave up on a blank river. His opponent showed pocket tens and scooped the pot.

A couple of hands later Trader three-bet pocket jacks from the cut-off, but had to fold to a four-bet raise from a woman behind him.

When down to 70,000 in chips Trader picked up pocket threes in the big blind. The action before him was: Raise from middle position, called by hijack and the button squezed it to 12,500. He had done this three times before and Trader decided it was a good spot to steal some chips and go over the top. He got called by the three-better that showed him pocket jacks.

No help for Trader and that was all for him.

Allanon's (pictured left) day also didn't last for very long. After picking some spots during the first level before the break, he managed to increase his stack size to 110,000 in chips without showdowns. After the break it was a whole lot worse for Allanon though. He didn't win a single hand for many orbits and he was forced to fold himself down to 67,000 in chips.

With the blinds 800-1600 and 200 ante, Allanon raised it under the gun with pocket nines. The person directly to his left, with whom he was involved with in many pots before, flat-called him and they saw a flop heads-up. The flop came down and Allanon bet out 7,500 into the 12,000 pot. The smooth caller re-raised it to 20,000 total and Allanon after some thinking decided his hand was good enough to go all in with. The smooth caller was thinking out loud for a while and finally called Allanon with pocket tens. No two-outer for Allanon and his play in the World Series 2009 ended right there.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

It took five levels of play for the starting field of 2,044 players on Day 3 to whittle down to just 810. Bertrand "ElkY"
Grospellier (pictured right) received a major boost to his stack after he tangled up in
a hand against Jerry Wong.

The two battled until the river when
Grospellier raised and Wong moved all-in. Grospellier made the call
with middle set and it was good enough to take the pot down, thus
making him the first player to break the 1 million chip mark.

After that hand, Grospellier simply crushed his table, winning one pot
after another which eventually led him to a whopping stack of
1,380,500.

Many more top pros are still in the hunt for the Main Event
title, including Ludovic Lacay, Jordan Morgan, Phil Hellmuth and Kenny
Tran.

Meanwhile, likes of Josh Arieh, Dutch Boyd and Greg Raymer will
not be returning for the fourth play day.

Here are the top 10 chip stacks after Day 3:

World Series Of Poker Main Event Day 3 Standings
Rank	Name	Chips
1st	Bertrand Grospellier	1,380,500
2nd	Ludovic Lacay	925,000
3rd	Christian Heich	870,000
4th	Kasper Cordes	796,000
5th	Jordan Morgan	785,000
6th	Adam Bilzerian	767,000
7th	Saar Wilf	765,000
8th	Gabe Walls	715,000
9th	James Akenhead	698,000
10th	Brennan Hanson	685,000