Welcome to Day 3 of the 2015 Master Classics of Poker Main Event
Only 36 players out of a 291-entry strong field remain for Day 3 of the €4,250 LIDO Main Event of the Master Classics of Poker. Donald Rae is leading the field with 682,000 and the Brit only has one cash on his Hendon Mob profile, a 92nd place in the 2015 LAPT Bahamas Main Event in January. Play resumes in one hour from now at 14:00 local time at the Holland Casino in Amsterdam with levels of 90 minutes.
All remaining participants are in the money and have €5,762 locked up for their efforts while the winner on Friday walks home with an exclusive MCOP winner's plate, Skullcandy headphones and a first-place payout of €299,614. 2015 World Series of Poker Europe bracelet winner Makarios Avramidis (635,000) and fellow Greek Georgios Zisimopoulos (550,000) as well as [Removed:172] (536,000) and Timothy Adams (507,000) completed the very prominent top five at the start of the day.
Some notables returning to the tables include Przemyslaw Piotrowski (419,000), Joep van den Bijgaart (406,000), Ilan Boujenah (378,000), EPT5 Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver (293,000), EPT6 Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg (212,000), Bryan Paris (212,000), Jussi Nevanlinna (208,000), Pascal Vos (201,000), former November Niner Michiel Brummelhuis (195,000), Steven van Zadelhoff (195,000), Tobias Peters (182,000), poker super star Steve O'Dwyer (152,000), defending champion Ruben Visser (86,000), and EPT8 Prague champion Martin Finger (38,000). Visser is the only former MCOP winner still in with hopes of becoming the first ever two-times champion in Amsterdam.
Especially the start of the day is expected to be fast and furious with many short stacks at upcoming blinds of 3,000-6,000 with a running ante of 1,000. A maximum of seven levels will be played or until the final table of the last nine is reached, whichever of the two comes first. As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to cover all key hands until the last river card falls.