Random notes... Wait until you read about the blind guy. Whoa.
And only 6 chicas left.
End of Day Three – Tournament Notes:
-- The 806 players who started Day Three played down to the final 337 over the course of about 12 hours. On Day Three, play ended at 12:30 am. Day Four will play 4.5 levels and will end at approximately midnight.
-- The current chip leader is Dario Minieri, from Rome Italy. He enjoyed an amazing day – rocketing up from 343,700 in chips from the start of play to 2,398,000.
-- The first player to cross the one-million chip threshold was Kenny Tran, from Arcadia, CA. He is currently ranked seventh in chips. Chip leader Minieri exceeded the two-million mark at about 11:30 pm near the end of the day.
-- Another former world champion hit the rail. Ex-champ Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (2000) was eliminated during the first hour of play during Day Three.
-- There are five former world champions still alive in the main event. They include:
Huck Seed (544,000),
Robert Varkonyi (424,000),
Scotty Nguyen (321,000),
Carlos Mortensen (284,000),
Berry Johnston (203,000)
-- Players entered the money spots about half an hour into the second round of Day Three. The unfortunate nine "bubble" players (those nine spots who were eliminated just outside the money) will compete in a special "Bubble Event" sponsored by Milwaukee's Best Light beer. The winner of the nine-player event will officially be qualified as "Entrant Number 1" into the 2008 WSOP main event – with the entry fee posted by Milwaukee's Best Light. The winner will also receive a year's supply of beer.
-- The ensure that all players had a shot at prize money, play went hand-for-hand for nearly two full hours. It took 16 hands to eliminate 12 players to finally get into the money.
-- The official 622nd place finisher (one spot out of the prize money) was John Sigan, from Strongsville, OH.
-- The most extraordinary feat of the tournament thus far has been the incredible success of Hal Lubasky, from Las Vegas, NV. Lubasky is legally blind. He has a degenerative eye disease causing him to lose most of his eyesight, except for blurred colors. At the poker table Lubasky uses a "reader" – which means a person sits behind him at tableside and whispers the hole cards into Lubasky's ear. From that point forward, all table decisions are dictated by Lubasky, so as not to violate the "one player to a hand" rule. His reader is named Jason, who works at a local bar frequented by Lubasky. In what is his first-ever WSOP event, Lebarski has now been guaranteed prize money. Currently, he has 409,000 in chips. Poker has given me back my life," Lebarski told an ESPN interviewer.
-- One celebrity was eliminated on Day Three:
Todd Phillips (film director) – finished in 380th place
The celebrities are still playing at the start of Day Four:
Tobey Maguire (actor) – 131,900 in chips
Sully Erna (songwriter and singer from Godsmack) – 135,000 in chips
Sam Simon (television producer) – 172,000
-- There are six women still playing in the main event.
-- The World Series of Poker has become a truly international spectacle. There are 27 different nations represented among the final 337 players in the main event. About 20 percent of the field, 74 players of the remaining 337 (at the start of Day Four) are international players.
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