Day 3 of H.O.R.S.E. Championship Sees Brian Hastings Leading Final 20 Players
Welcome back to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino and the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for Day 3 of the Event #29: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship.
Following two full days of intense poker action, the 172-strong field is down to the final 20 players who will all be eyeing the final six seats and a live final table on Friday. A total of 11 new players entered on Day 2 to see the field surpass last year's mark of 166. With a prize pool of $1,616,800 created, the top 26 players would finish in the money with a guaranteed $15,176 payday.
As just 83 players returned on Day 2, plus the newly seated 11 late entrants, there was a fast start to the day as players saw their hopes dashed upon busting. The likes of WSOP bracelet winners Jesse Martin, John Racener, Tommy Hang, Freddy Deeb, Phil Ivey, Steven Wolansky, Paul Volpe, Daniel Negreanu, Robert Mizrachi, Ian Johns, Daniel Idema, Chris Ferguson, Nick Schulman, Randy Ohel, and defending champion John Hennigan all found themselves on the rail before the money was reached.
David "ODB" Baker was left with just with one big bet after folding to Greg Mueller in Stud. On the next hand, Baker started with rolled up tens, but Yueqi Zhu found the case king to improve to trip kings. And when Baker was unable to improve by seventh, he was eliminated on the money bubble of the H.O.R.S.E. Championship. With players now in the money, Daniel Alaei (26th), Chris Vitch (25th), Chip Jett (24th), Zhu (23rd), Tim Marsters (22nd), and Phillip Hui (21st) were eliminated before play ended after seven 90-minute levels as just 20 players remained.
Leading those 20 players is four-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hastings who finished with 1,125,000 in chips. Sitting on his his heels is Daniel Ospina (1,120,000) and Dario Sammartino (1,120,000) as the only players in the seven-figure club. Three players that registered on Day 2 also survived with Phil Galfond (734,000), Matthew Gonzales (551,000), and Justin Bonomo (200,000) all flirting with the chip lead throughout the day.
The schedule for Day 2 is for 90-minute levels with limits beginning at 20,000-40,000. With this final table being streamed on CBS All Access and PokerGO, the tournament will continue for seven levels, or until six players remain.
Play resumes at 3 p.m. (PDT) with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing continuous live updates of all the H.O.R.S.E. Championship action. So stay tuned for PokerNews.com for all the Event #29 action, along with all the live updates and news from the 2019 World Series of Poker.