Event #52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed

It was a relatively brief Day 3 here at the $25,000 NLHE six-max event. 18 players returned to play down to a final table of six, and within the first level we lost an entire table of players. By the time were down to eight, we'd lost former big stacks Daniel Negreanu, Abe Mosseri, and Isaac Haxton, along with the man who came into the day with a dominating chip lead, Bryn Kenney.

The story of the day, however, was that of the rise of Dan Kelly. Best known as "djk123" online, the 21 year-old came into Day 3 with only 260,000 in chips, making him the shortest stack among the final 18 players. Kelly found an early double-up and just kept on swinging, three-betting and check-raising his way to the 5,895,000 he just bagged up. With just over 14.3 million spread around the table, Kelly controls more than 41% of the chips in play.

The oldest player remaining in this event by more than a decade and a half, Frank Kassela, also made a surge today and is making a serious run at his third bracelet. Kassela is second in chips with 2.6 million and now has a stranglehold on the WSOP Player of the Year race. Guaranteed at least sixth place, Kassela is now 45 points ahead of John Juanda, and a win in this event would make it extremely difficult for anyone to catch him for the title.

Join us again tomorrow at 2:30 pm as we play down to a winner. The action will also be streamed live on ESPN3.

For all of us at PokerNews, thanks for joining us. Good night and good luck from Las Vegas.

Shawn Buchanan opened for 130,000 from the cutoff, Sam Trickett moved all-in from the small blind and Buchanan called.

Trickett   

Buchanan   

Buchanan flopped a set on the       board and sent Trickett to the rail on the final table bubble.

Our six final table players are all bagging and tagging their chips right now. We'll have full, official chip counts in just a moment.

Eugene Katchalov opened for 110,000 from the hijack and Frank Kassela called from the big blind. The flop came down     and Kassela led out for 300,000. Katchalov folded and is down to 580,000 in chips while Kassela is up to 2,620,000.

After opening the first two pots and taking them down uncontested, Mikael Thuritz three-bet to 275,000 over Dan Kelly's opening raise and took down his third pot in a row. He's up to 2 million in chips.

In lieu of a dinner hour, our players have chosen instead to take a 20-minute break.

Shawn Buchanan started the action by raising to 95,000 from middle position. Sam Trickett called from the cutoff and Jason Somerville moved all in for 665,000 more from the small blind. Buchanan quickly folded and Trickett tanked momentarily before calling.

Trickett:  

Somerville:  

The   flop gave Trickett four extra outs to a straight and the two traded kicker outs for broadway.

The   on the turn changed nothing and neither did the   on the river however, doubling Somerville to 1,690,000 chips.

Tricket is now very low with 815,000.

Dan Kelly led off the action with a raise to 90,000. Eugene Katchalov called and Mikael Thuritz moved all-in for 825,000. Kelly folded and Katchalov called.

Thuritz   

Katchalov   

Thuritz flopped a set on the       board and doubled to 1.74 million. Katchalov is on the short stack with 650,000.

Dan Kelly - 4,650,000

Frank Kassela - 2,650,000

Sam Trickett - 2,050,000

Shawn Buchanan - 1,605,000

Jason Somerville - 1,330,000

Eugene Katchalov - 1,300,000

Mikael Thuritz - 910,000

Shawn Buchanan opened for 85,000 from the cutoff and Mikael Thuritz moved all-in for about 780,000. Buchanan folded and Thuritz lived to play another hand.

Thuritz = 950,000

Buchanan - 1,620,000

Jason Somerville opened for 80,000 from the button and Dan Kelly three-bet to 210,000 from the small blind. Somerville wasn't having any of that and four-bet shoved, inducing a fold from Kelly.

Somerville = 1.78 million

Kelly = 4.46 million (at the moment, that's 31% of the chips in play)