The pair of experienced pros took control during the latter portion of Day 2 of the 8-game event and will take nearly 50% of the chips in play to the final table of six players.
Ivey is the overall chip leader with 144,300 while Negreanu is a close second with 129,000.
Event 3 only attracted a field of 81 players but it was one of the toughest fields of the year with wall-to-wall pros.
Several other big-name pros came close to making the final table as Mel Judah finished 11th, Jonathan Duhamel 13th and Chau Giang 14th.
Hellmuth, Greenstein Bust Early on Day 2
Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein and Bertrand “ElkY” Gospellier were also among the players who fell short of the money. In fact, due to the small field size only eight places paid out.
With a comparatively small $51,840 available for first place, there’s no doubt that Negreanu and Ivey are both thinking about the bracelet.
Ivey is hunting his ninth WSOP bracelet while Negreanu is looking for his fifth.
Unfortunately for the Canadian, Ivey will have position on him at the final table, being on his direct left.
The final table is quite top heavy when it comes to big names as Brandon Wong, Kevin Song, Rob Campbell and Graeme “KiwiG” Putt round out the final six.
Here’s a look at the complete chip counts heading into the final table:
1. Phil Ivey – 144,300 2. Daniel Negreanu – 129,000 3. Brandon Wong – 86,100 4. Kevin Song – 49,600 5. Rob Campbell – 42,600 6. Graeme Putt – 36,400The final table begins at 12:30 AEST tomorrow and will play to a winner. Follow the official live updates here or the WSOP APAC livestream here.
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