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WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic – Day 3 Report
Posted by: Randy Williams - Sun, 2011-12-11 11:18
Day 3 of the WPT’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic carried special significance for the field: the money bubble, set for 100th place, was going to burst. In the end, 49 players survived the day, the money bubble woes a distant memory in their minds. Kyle Julius has managed to amass a stack of 1.4 million chips, enough to give him the lead for the day. Soi Nguyen played well too: he finished second with a stack of 1.38 million chips. Antonio Esfandiari, the defending champion of the
poker tournament, rounded out the top 3.
The bulk of Julius’ chips came from a hand during the 15th level, in which his pocket Qs got the better of Alexander Debus’ A,K. The money went into the middle before the flop and the classic coin-flip was set. The flop fell 5,3,2. A 6 fell on the turn creating the possibility of a chop, but the river was a blank and the pot was shipped Julius’ way.
Antonio Esfandiari took quite a different approach to stack building: he nibbled away at his opponents’ stack and slowly but surely rose in the counts. The most significant pot he collected through the day was from a hand he played with Shawn Klasson who moved all-in from under the gun. As it turned out, Klasson had Kd,Jd. Esfandiari made the call with pocket 10s, for yet another coin-flip. The flop fell 9,2,2 followed by an A on the river, which was all good for the Magician. Another 10 on the river was even better, giving him a set and the win.
Klasson might’ve bitten the dust, but he did so with the money bubble out of the way.
Many “name” players weren’t that lucky: Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Eli Elezra and Doyle Brunson were all eliminated short of the money. The bubble boy was Brent Sheirbon, whose pocket Js proved to be no match for John Krpan’s pocket Qs.
