Brian Rast, winner of two bracelets last year, and Jeff Lisandro, he of three bracelets and a Player of the Year title in 2009, both lead their respective events after impressive days at the felt.
Rast Rolls to Giant Stack in $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
Just 33 players are left from the massive starting field of Event 9, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry, and Brain Rast leads them all with a massive stack of 1.5 million in chips.
Rast held the chip lead for most of the night in fact, dragging big pot after big pot, to separate himself from the surprisingly tough field.
Despite a litany of pros in contention, just Ryan Olisar and Scott Seiver finished the day in the same vicinity as Rast - both finishing the night with around 1 million in chips.
2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel (840,000) and Greg “FBT” Mueller (615,000) managed to stay in the top 10 in chips while pros Ari Engel, Lee Childs, Paul Wasicka and Daniel Idema also survived to see Day 3.
Action is well into the money with each player now guaranteed at least $18,427.
Notables making it into the money in this event included John Juanda, Kevin MacPhee, James Akenhead, David Benyamine, Liv Boeree and Jerry Yang.
Because of the massive field and re-entry format the inflated prize pool has a solid $781,398 up top for the winner and $481,643 for the runner-up.
Play resumes today at 1 pm in Las Vegas and will go on until a final table is set.
Top ten and chip counts:
1. Brian Rast 1,498,0002. Ryan Olisar 1,080,0003. Scott Seiver 1,031,0004. Aviraham Lovton 872,0005. Jonathan Duhamel 840,0006. Derrick Huan 682,0007. Duy Ho 675,0008. Barry Hutter 647,0009. Greg Mueller 615,00010. Ashkan Razavi 614,000Lisandro Back on Top, Katchalov Chasing in $5k Stud
2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeffrey Lisandro is back in contention for a Stud bracelet as he holds down the chip lead with just 16 players left in Event 10, $5k Seven Card Stud.
With three bracelets in Stud variants in 2009 alone, Lisandro is clearly a favorite in any Stud event he enters and is especially now with just 16 remaining.
Lisandro bagged up 276,500 in chips to end last nigth with a substantial lead over second place Eugene Katchalov with 207,000.
While those two were the only players to break the 200k mark, several notables linger in the field with a shot at taking the bracelet.
John Monnette (188,000), Max Pescatori (170,500) and Bryn Kenney (170,000) are all in the top 10 while Cyndy Violette (88,000) and Mike Sexton (62,000) are still hanging on.
With a small field of 145 players to start first place pays a relatively modest $190,826.
Action resumes at 2 pm from the Rio in Las Vegas and will play down to a champion.
Top ten and chip counts:
1. Jeff Lisandro 276,500 2. Eugene Katchalov 207,000 3. John Monnette 188,000 4. Huu Vinh 179,000 5. Max Pescatori 170,500 6. Bryn Kenney 170,000 7. Raymond Dehkharghani 169,000 8. Perry Friedman 160,500 9. Timothy Finne 133,000 10. Lee Goldman 124,500Visit www.pokerlistings.com