Considered the most prestigious event in poker the $50k Player's Championship draws in the best all-around poker players every year but they'll carry on to Day 3 this year without Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.
All three busted from the event yesterday while David Benyamine and Jonathan Duhamel rose to the top of the chip counts.
Scotsman David Vamplew, meanwhile, edged closer to his first bracelet with three players left in Event #53.
Benyamine Leads Final 78 in $50k, Brunson Holds On
Despite their shared excitement for the $50k Player's Championship at its outset, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth had to say goodbye to it yesterday.
Negreanu departed in level 10 after losing his stack to Brian Rast in two No-Limit Hold'em hands. Hellmuth could only make it to level 9 before hittng the bricks.
Ivey, in the middle of possibly his quietest WSOP ever, bowed out in his chase for the Chip Reese Trophy in level 8 to Erick Lindgren.
On the other end of the spectrum former Full Tilt pro David Benyamine had a strong day to bag up 729,000 for the chip lead, just ahead of 2010 Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel.
Our feature coverage subject, the legendary Doyle Brunson, had an up and down day but managed to quadruple up near the end to see Day 3. Check out all the day's highlights in our WSOP Live Updates and tune in at 2 pm for more. The top 10 in chips:
1. David Benyamine 729,000 2. Jonathan Duhamel 666,100 3. Matthew Ashton 635,500 4. Troy Burkholder 623,000 5. Jean Gaspard 611,000 6. Don Nguyen 528,000 7. Brian Rast 489,500 8. Justin Smith 456,000 9. Shaun Deeb 453,600 10. Adam Friedman 436,600Vamplew Leads Final Three in $1,500 No-Limit
A long day of play in Event #53, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em, amost reached a winner last night but a pair of cracked aces brought the final three back to play it out today.
Scotsman David Vamplew, former EPT London Champion, had his first bracelet almost in his grasp before Brett Shaffer hit two nines on the flop for a set to crack his aces.
That evened out the chip counts and forced the final three to call it quits at the end of 10 levels. They'll be back to play it out for the $665,397 today at 1 pm with Vamplew holding a slight chip lead.
Canadian Mike "SirWatts" Watson, looking for Canada's 11th bracelet of the series, busted in fifth. The final three:
1. David Vamplew 5,345,000 2. Brett Shaffer 5,285,000 3. Arttu Raekorpi 2,055,000Hutter, Ruberto Lead No-Limit Events
Just two other events held court in the Rio yesterday with Barry Hutter and Tony Ruberto the respective chip leaders.
Hutter has a dominant lead in Event #54, $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, at 2,054,000 with 14 players left.
Ruberto, a former WPT champ, took the early lead on Day 1 of Event #56, $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
Check our WSOP news section tomorrow for updates on both events.
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