On Thursday, the third day of play concluded from the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the site of the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago. The $15,000 buy-in tournament attracted 368 players, creating the largest prize pool for the tournament ever. After Day 3 had concluded, Ryan Fair led the way with 1.3 million chips. So far, being the chip leader has been treacherous, as Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu, who sat atop the pack after Days 1 and 2, respectively, have both been eliminated.
Negreanu and Ultimate Bet poker pro Phil Hellmuth took center stage on Tuesday night for the premiere of The Real Deal at The Venetian. On Wednesday, Negreanu took a commanding chip lead in the Festa al Lago. However, a big hand yesterday with the current chip leader, Fair, sent his stack spiraling. Negreanu pushed all in after a flop of A-K-7 holding A-K, but ran into Fair’s bottom set. He was ousted from the Festa al Lago less than an hour later. The burning question now is how will the chip leader “Fair” on Day 4?
Here are the top ten chip stacks in the room after three days of play:
1st Place: Ryan Fair – 1,331,000
2nd Place: Will Mietz – 1,217,000
3rd Place: Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – 1,151,000
4th Place: Joe Sebok – 1,100,000
5th Place: Nenad Medic – 925,000
6th Place: Osmin “Odie” Dardon – 703,000
7th Place: Steve Fiorentini – 686,000
8th Place: “Yukon” Brad Booth – 616,000
9th Place: Joe Ebanks – 595,000
10th Place: Nam Le – 557,000
There are 34 players who remain in total. Play will occur until five blind levels have been completed or until the final table is determined, whichever happens first. Regardless, the final six players will return for the televised feature table on Sunday. It will air on cable station Fox Sports Net as part of Season VII of the World Poker Tour.
Grospellier is perhaps the most decorated poker pro in the top ten at the Bellagio. Known as “ElkY” in the online world, Grospellier won the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a European Poker Tour event, earning $2 million for his efforts. He pocketed over $400,000 for finishing second in the EPT’s Copenhagen event during Season 3. He’s a proud member of Team PokerStars Pro and has played in tournaments around the world.
Le won the WPT’s Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament during Season IV, defeating a final table that also included Bodog pro David Williams and PokerStars pro Chad Brown. Le has 16 World Series of Poker and Circuit Event cashes for nearly $800,000 on his poker resume, but has not yet scored a bracelet. He will be a force to be reckoned with holding the 10th largest chip stack in the Festa al Lago.
Notable poker players who also appear in the final 34 include:
11th Place: Scott Clements – 552,000
12th Place: Daniel Alaei – 546,000
15th Place: Bryan Devonshire – 485,000
16th Place: Michael DeMichele – 475,000
20th Place: Dutch Boyd – 366,000
21st Place: Isaac “WestmenloAA” Baron – 325,000
22nd Place: Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 300,000
23rd Place: Adam “Roothlus” Levy – 298,000
34th Place: J.J. Liu – 21,000
The winner of the WPT event will pocket $1.4 million. Not in contention for the top prize are several well-known poker pros that were ousted on Thursday, including Doyle Brunson, Beth Shak, and Negreanu. Stay tuned for more right here on Poker News Daily.
