Fourth Day Needed to Determine a $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Champion
Day 3 of Event #40: $10,000 Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship started with 15 players remaining, and after seven 90-minute levels, three still remained. David Funkhouser holds the chip lead as another day of play is needed to crown a champion.
This is the same situation as last fall��s tournament, won by Brian Hastings, when four players returned for a fourth day before Hastings won his fifth career bracelet.
Hastings won��t be among Tuesday��s final three, however, as he was eliminated in seventh place at the hands of Funkhouser.
The eliminations started quickly on Day 3 with Felipe Ramos first out the door in 15th place. Among the other early eliminations were four-time WSOP bracelet winner John Monnette in 14th place, Daniel Negreanu in 12th place and Todd Brunson in 11th.
Once the field reached a final table of eight with the elimination of Long Tran in 9th place, the play was focused but light-hearted, with plenty of banter and of course slow-rolling, with Shaun Deeb at the heart of things.
The Rise and Fall of Eric Kurtzman
After dinner, things quickly turned into the Eric Kurtzman show, as he first got in on the slow-rolling fun (albeit accidentally), then sent home Day 2 chip leader Chad Eveslage in 6th place, and Deeb in fifth place.
At one point, Kurtzman had just under two-thirds of the chips in play.
Following the elimination of Deeb however, while Kurtzman maintained his chip lead, his remaining three opponents chipped away at it, flattening the stacks as they entered the final level of play, with no player under a million chips and Kurtzman just over three million.
Kurtzman��s stack continued to dwindle as the final level began, and a large scoop by Funkhouser put him in the lead with just an hour of play remaining in the night.
Then just before the night's end, Kurtzman became the final elimination of the night, falling to Funkhouser, who would end the night as the chip leader.
The players have agreed to return at 3 p.m. local time to ��the horseshoe�� in the shadow of the mothership in the Bally��s Event Center, where they will finally play to a winner, who will claim the prestigious WSOP bracelet and $324,174.
PokerNews will be there for the thrilling conclusion of what has become an epic event, so keep your browsers locked here as we bring you the action from this and every event from the 53rd World Series of Poker in its new home at Bally��s and Paris Las Vegas.