Event #24: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em

A very short Day 3 is in the books now as the 30 returning players were whittled to nine in under five levels. JD McNamara started as one of the shorter stacks with 230,000 but ran hot, played aggressively, and surged into the chip lead by the end of the day. He brings nearly 2.4 million with him to the final table. Thanh dat Tran started the day in the middle of the pack and chipped up to finish the day just behind McNamara.

Christophe Benzimra, who won EPT Warsaw last October, started the day as one of the shortest stacks and couldn't get anything going. He was eliminated in 27th place. Joseph Grenon began the day at the opposite end of the counts but fell from chip leader to out very quickly. He ran jacks into aces to finish in 23rd place. Holger Kanisch, who finished second to Sandra Naujoks at EPT Dortmund in 2009, didn't make it quite as deep here. He was sent packing in 21st. Bulgarian hotshot Yordan Mitrentsov followed soon after in 19th place.

A few speedy eliminations left the group with 11 players at the dinner break, and they left no time in busting Anthony Damore in 11th place. Alexis Belanger-Lebel was one of the larger stacks returning from dinner but made a painful mistake, losing nearly all of his chips when he failed to notice another player had moved all in in front of him. Belanger-Lebel was eliminated soon after in 10th place, setting the official final table. The players will sit down to the following seats and stacks when they resume their quest for the title:

Seat 1: Blake Kelso - 1,166,000

Seat 2: JD McNamara - 2,393,000

Seat 3: Thanh dat Tran - 2,311,000

Seat 4: Greg Pohler - 1,660,000

Seat 5: David Cai - 844,000

Seat 6: Michael Gross - 535,000

Seat 7: Denis Murphy - 789,999

Seat 8: Jeffrey Tebben - 466,000

Seat 9: John Tolbert - 925,000

With nine fresh faces earning a spot around WSOP final-table felt, we'll crown a brand new bracelet winner in eight short eliminations. Which one of these players will make his mark? Tune in Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. to find out along with us.

Blake Kelso opened the action by moving all from early position in seat one. The table folded around to Alexis Belanger Lebel in the small blind who turned to Jeffrey Tebben in the big blind and asked for a count. Tebben shrugged and counted out about 535,000. Lebel then announced, "I'm all in". Tebben quickly folded and Lebel got the shock of his life.

"You didn't realize I was already all in, did you?" laughed Kelso, as Lebel dropped his head in dismay at his huge error.

Perhaps he didn't see the bet from the other side of the dealer, but there was no turning back now as the cards were tabled.

Kelso:   

Lebel:   

It would be a cruel blow for Kelso if he lost it in this fashion as he turned and ran away from the table, unable to watch. He didn't have to worry as the board ran out       missing both players.

Kelso doubles through to 1.2 million in extraordinary circumstances as Lebel is now on the short stack with just 156,000.

The bags are out and the pens are at the ready, in anticipation of one more elimination. That means it looks like we'll be stopping for the night as soon as we reach our final nine, with the finale of this event set to take place tomorrow afternoon.

Action folded to Anthony Damore on the button, and he shoved for the three big blinds he had left. David Cai called from the small blind, and Thanh dat Tran called in the big. Cai and Tran checked all three streets as the board fell  . Cai tabled   for sevens and fours, and Tran mucked. Damore tossed his cards as well and said his goodbyes, leaving ten players remaining.

As Damore left to pick up his first WSOP cash, the rest of the players paused to redraw to the unofficial final table.

The players are now taking a one-hour dinner break.

Action folded to JD "BubbaKGB" McNamara in the small blind, and he raised it to 78,000. Michael Gross defended his big blind, and they went heads up to the   flop. McNamara bet 85,000, and Gross flatted. The turn brought the  , and this time McNamara bet 190,000. Gross called again, and they checked down the blank on the river. McNamara rolled over   for flopped trips, and Gross just mucked unhappily. He's down to 365,000, while McNamara moved up to 2.3 million.

And you thought people just turned to PokerNews for all of their live update/chip count/photo/video needs. Some get their nicknames here too. Yesterday, we blogged a hand in which Edgar de la Torre ran a sick bluff and got his opponent to fold after an agonizing few minutes in the tank. The headline "De la Torture" seemed to fit.

Edgar's fans had been railing him loyally all day and following our coverage from the sidelines. Today, they came back to cheer on their man in designer duds they'd put together this morning - a whole line of shirts with the slogan "de la Torture!"

After a flurry of bust outs and double ups, players' chip-shoving arms must have gotten a little tired. It's mostly raise-and-take-it poker now, and no one seems to be in a hurry to go anywhere.

David Cai and John Tolbert had their chips all in preflop with Tolbert's tournament life on the line.

Cai:   

Tolbert:   

Tolbert would need some help but it took until the river on the       board as Tolbert ended up with nines full of treys for the double.

Cai slips down to 335,000 with Tolbert now up to 467,000.

The flop came out  , and John Tolbert checked. Thanh dat Tran bet 85,000 on the button, and Tolbert check-raised to 170,000. Tran called, and the turn brought the  . This time, Tolbert bet out 200,000. Tran called again, leaving himself 400,000 behind. The river was another trey, the  . Tolbert applied maximum pressure, moving all in to force Tran to risk his tournament life. And somehow, Tran made the call - will   for second pair. Tolbert could only show   for a missed flush draw. "Nice hand," he said as he doubled Tran to 1.585 million. Tolbert fell to 330,000.