WSOP Main Event Money Bubble Bursts, Lavecchia Leads

The World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship Main Event returned 2,572 players to Day 3 with their eyes set on the looming money bubble. The five scheduled levels wasn’t enough time to burst the bubble and the field played an extra 51 minutes into Level 16. Hand-for-hand lasted one round, with four all in players and two busted – Roger Campbell and Quan Zhou – putting 1,084 players into the money.

Leading the field are four players all with 1.5 million in the bag – Patrick Lavecchia, Pawel Brzeski, Antoine Saout and Jeremiah Fitzpatrick. Kenny Hallaert, Brandon Meyers and Sofia Lovgren all finished near the top of the leader board.

Traditionally, the player that bursts the bubble receives a seat to the next year’s Main Event. Campbell and Zhou were brought to an empty table, dealt one hand for a flip and Zhou won to lock up 1,085th place. 

Meyers finished near the top of the counts. “My day was incredible, I feel great,” he said. “I couldn’t ask to be in a better situation, everything has gone super smooth since the second level of Day 1.”

(Brandon Meyers bagged seven-figures and is looking forward to Day 4. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
“It’s fun and a great situation,” he said. While many players were upset about the starting time not being pushed back, Meyers was pretty indifferent. “Nah, I’m not affected by the short turn around. I’m kind of used to not much sleep with two small kids at home. I’ll be fine.”

Lovgren finished just shy of seven-figures with 996,000. “It was a great day – yesterday was a roller coaster,” she said. “I came back with 105,000 and it’s been a long grind today.”

“I had a great starting table today and played a lot of hands to pick up momentum,” she added. “I got some bluffs through, so I’m very happy with my play today. It’s exciting, especially with nice stack – I really want to a deep run now.”

Sofia Lovgren cashed in the Main Event for the first time. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Seven former Main Event Champions returned to play Thursday: Tom McEvoy, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Joe Cada. Raymer, Hachem, Chan and McEvoy were eliminated during the day.

Doug Polk, Ranier Kempe, Kristen Bicknell, Jason Mercier and Pratyush Buddiga were eliminated today short of the money.

Day 4 resumes play at 11 am PT Friday with the broadcast going live at 11:30 am – 5 pm PT exclusively on PokerGO. Then from 5 pm – 8 pm PT the action clicks over to ESPN2 for three hours and then a final 8 – 8:30 pm PT broadcast on PokerGO.

Daniel Negreanu is the most recognizable poker player on the planet and it’s no coincidence he’s also the most successful. He had eight cashes in $10,000 Championship events and contended for Player of the Year for a good part of the summer. He discussed his efforts before play began.

Joe Hachem kicked off Australia’s own poker boom after winning the 2005 WSOP Main Event and the last champion to win at Binion’s Horseshoe Downtown Vegas. Hachem was particularly excited about the PokerGO broadcasts – reaching players all around the globe.

Jason Koon is one of the brightest young minds playing the High Roller circuit today with over $9 million in tournament earnings. Koon caught fire early on Day 3 and added 100,000 to his stack in short order after he said he found is passion of playing for fun again.

Jason Koon feels a deep run in the Main Event is probable. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Chino Rheem was a member of the first November Nine in 2008 and recalled hearing the announcements of players busting for six-figures. Rheem wants a bracelet but plays for the money.

Matthew Moss was the first player to the magical million-chip count. He made a deep run in the 2016 Main Event and spends 36 hours at a time at the tables in Macau.

Kenny Hallaert made the November Nine in 2016 and after a year of intense training, he’s putting himself in position to make a return trip to the final table of the Main Event.

Greg Raymer was one of the former Main Event Champions to return on Day 3 but did not make it through the day. Raymer watched the replay of his Final Table Wednesday night and was shaken to tears from the memories of his late father on the rail when he won.