2007 World Series of Poker - Day 3

I've decided that I'm having too much fun following the updates on pokernews, so I'm just going to stick with it, maybe I'll stop on the last two days so I have some surprise left when ESPN airs the thing.

But for now I'm gonna file a recap everyday, if you don't want to see it, skip this post.

After day 3 337 players are still left. Lots of notables (in order of chips):

Dario Minieri: This year's Jamie Gold. Very aggressive player, has a huge chip stack at this point (twice the total of all but 3 other players).

Kenny Tran: Finished 4th in the HORSE event, now he's 3rd in chips.

Gus Hansen: He's 9th in chips. Because he plays so many hands he needs to keep getting lucky. But he does have an uncanny ability to throw away hands when he's beat. I'd be surprised if he didn't have a massive flameout soon though.



Bart Hanson: Finished 8th at the $1,500 Hold Em event that was broadcast on ESPN this week. Poker announcer for the Bicycle Casino.

Pete de Best: De Best name left in the field.

Kirk Morrison: Finished 7th the Mixed Hold Em event, first event of this year's WSOP, that was broadcast on ESPN this week. Profiled on that show, used to roll with Negreanu, Juanda and Cunningham until he gave up poker and moved to New Zealand. Now he's back.

Huck Seed: 1996 Main Event Champion. One of my favorite players. He's very quiet at the table and he folds a lot of hands, but he employs selective agression. He's also very tall and wins a lot of prop bets with his ability to shoot a basketball.

Darrell Dicken: Douchebag but popular internet player under the name Gigabet. You maybe have seen him if you watched the USPC on ESPN.

Hal Lubarsky: He's blind. Not in the big blind. He can't see. He has a helper telling him his cards and reading him the board.

Julian Gardner: Finished second at the Main Event in 2002.

John Spadavecchia: Finished third at the Main Event in 1994. Has one WSOP bracelet and a really bad toupee.



Peter Feldman: Chubby internet pro who beat Gavin Smith at a televised circuit event last year. Won another circuit title this year.

Chad Brown: Popular player and announcer. Banging Vanessa Rousso.

Robert Varkonyi: 2002 Main Event champion. The beginning of the amateur winners. Phil Hellmuth shaved his head when he won. But he has turned into a pretty decent pro.

Carlos Mortensen: 2001 Main Event champion. El Matador is a really good player, but like Gus he gets aggressive and could get caught by an amateur.

Scotty Nguyen: 1998 Main Event champion. "You call it's gonna be all over baby."



Humberto Brenes: The shark is hungry once again. Finished 37th in last year's main event, one of the last pros to go out. Made famous by his shark antics. Also finished 4th at the Main Event in 1988, the famous Chan-Seidel final.

Daniel Alaei: Played a couple times on GSN's "High Stakes Poker."

Hasan Habib: A great name. Trying yelling it out. WPT once did a feature on his name. People use it as a good luck cry. HasanHabib!

Sully Erna: The lead singer of Godsmack. I guess that's impressive, more impressive is, this is his second cash in a row. But he was almost the bubble boy. He was all-in with 622 players left. He flopped a set of 10 but his opponent turned a straight. Sully got furious, then rivered a full house.

Tuna Lund: A sweaty fat guy who has two bracelets, one from 1978 and one from 1996.

Billy Baxter: Has 7 bracelets, a true old school veteran.

Tobey Maguire: Spider-man is widely known as the best celebrity player. But he hates attention at the table. Strangely he was seated right next to Sully Erna for a time, and actually got a hooded sweatshirt so he could hide from the media crush. If he wins this thing it would bring poker back to the mainstream.



Berry Johnston: 1986 Main Event Champion. The last of 5 champs still alive.

Not too many notable knockout on Day 3. Jesus went out early, Todd Brunson and his sister got booted. Gavin Smith went out just after the money. Ted Forrest, Chip Jett and Minh Ly all busted. So did Leif Force, Monkey Boy from last year when he finished 11th.

Players will play 5 levels (2 hours each) Friday starting at noon Vegas time.
On Saturday they will play until they reach 27 players.
On Sunday they cut down to the final table.
Monday is an off day.
Tuesday is the final table. Starting at 3pm eastern. It's available for pay-per-view, but it's $20. I'd buy it for $5, or even $10, but $20 seems like a lot for something you might need to fast forward through. Or if it goes long, I'll have to leave for work before it ends.