Michael Rocco Leads 2023 Poker Masters Event #3 Final Table

The 2023 Poker Masters continued at the PokerGO Studio from ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Michael Rocco bagged the top stack with 2,740,000 to lead the six remaining players in Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

Ren Lin sits second in chips, while Daniel Rezaei, Alex Foxen, Chance Kornuth, and Purple Jacket frontrunner Vladas Tamasauskas round out the players who will return for the final day of play at 12 p.m. PT on Monday, September 18 with the delayed final table stream beginning at 1 p.m. PT on PokerGO.

The field of 87 entrants created a prize pool of $870,000 and the top 13 finishers earned a piece of it. Adrian Mateos was the unfortunate bubble boy when he ran ace-ten into Lin's ace-jack and failed to improve. Jeremy Becker (13th), Brock Wilson (12th), Ryan Riess (11th), Jose Diaz (10th), and Filipp Khavin (9th) all made it into the money but fell short of the unofficial final table, although Riess has now cashed in all three events thus far. Tamasauskas is the only other player to claim that feat, and the Lithuanian player has even made it to a trio of streamed final table appearances.

The eight remaining players converged on a single table and Dan Shak fell in eighth place, having bested his ninth-place finish the previous day. Soon after, Rocco won a preflop raising war against Foxen, and then Lin ran kings into Rezaei's aces to concede the tournament chip lead to Rocco. Andrew Lichtenberger got his short stack in with queen-jack against Kornuth's ace-king on the final hand of the night and was eliminated in seventh place when he failed to improve. The six remaining players then bagged and tagged to return for the streamed final table on Monday.

Kornuth picked up his first cash of the series, while Rocco, Lin, Rezaei, and Foxen have each notched their second of the series. Tamasauskas has not only cashed in all three events but has also final tabled all of them. The Lithuanian will be the one to chase in the race for the Purple Jacket, as the six remaining players eye the $208,800 first-place prize and Event #3 trophy.

2023 Poker Masters Event #3 Final Table

When play resumes, there is 30:54 remaining in Level 16 with blinds at 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante. The button is on Daniel Rezaei.

Play will resume at 12 p.m. PT on Monday, September 18 and the final table will be streamed on delay starting at 1 p.m. PT on PokerGO.com.

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