We’re into the interesting bit. Sure, those early stages can produce some important moments, flagging up the early signs of a player in form. But Day 3 is where things are turned up a notch, for there is money involved now, and that’s ball game.
But not everyone was entitled to a share when play began today. Some 131 players returned, but only 95 would have something to show for their efforts by the end of the day. But it felt like a long day, except perhaps for Jaroslaw Sikora, who leads with a stack of 1.65 million tonight.
Then things get familiar. Faraz Jaka is in third place, while Sam Greenwood is in fourth place. Both, along with Niall Farrell in fifth place, are within sight of the lead, and will be the principal challengers tomorrow.
Name | Country | Status | Chips |
---|---|---|---|
Jaroslaw Sikora | Poland | PokerStars player | 1,457,000 |
Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | PokerStars player | 1,306,000 |
Faraz Jaka | USA | PokerStars qualifier | 1,200,000 |
Niall Farrell | UK | PokerStars player | 1,160,000 |
Sam Greenwood | Canada | PokerStars player | 1,160,000 |
Giulio Spampinato | Italy | 785,000 | |
Alen Bilic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | PokerStars player | 745,000 |
Apostolos Bechrakis | Greece | PokerStars qualifier | 720,000 |
Mike McDonald | Canada | PokerStars qualifier | 689,000 |
Michael Ho | Canada | 680,000 | |
Darrell Goh | Ireland | 633,000 | |
Mikael Jean | Lebanon | 598,000 | |
Kitty Kuo | China | PokerStars qualifier | 574,000 |
Bjorn Geissert | Germany | PokerStrars player | 526,000 |
Rainer Kempe | Germany | PokerStars qualifier | 490,000 |
Andreas Chalkiadakis | Greece | 482,000 | |
Gianluca Escobar | Italy | 447,000 | |
Shannon Shorr | USA | PokerStars player | 407,000 |
Johnny Lodden | Norway | Team PokerStars Pro | 399,000 |
Ferdinand Le Pichon | France | 364,000 | |
Ivan Luca | Argentina | PokerStars qualifier | 349,000 |
Hani Bahna | Canada | 344,000 | |
Jens Lakemeier | Germany | PokerStars qualifier | 336,000 |
Akim Aouine | France | 308,000 | |
Ezequiel Kleinman | Argentina | PokerStars qualifier | 301,000 |
Erik Scheidt | Germany | PokerStars player | 283,000 |
Mikko Turtiainen | Finland | PokerStars qualifier | 282,000 |
Natasha Barbour | USA | 280,000 | |
Daniel Dvoress | Canada | PokerStars qualifier | 278,000 |
Marcin Wydrowski | Poland | PokerStars qualifier | 257,000 |
Nabil Mohamed Abdien Cardoso | Spain | 255,000 | |
Pierre Chevalier | France | 240,000 | |
Anton Bertilsson | Sweden | PokerStars qualifier | 216,000 |
Kevin Lee Sharp | Canada | PokerStars qualifier | 176,000 |
Bryn Kenney | USA | PokerStars qualifier | 172,000 |
Antonio Chemi | Italy | 164,000 | |
Enrico Camosci | Italy | PokerStars player | 162,000 |
Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | PokerStars qualifier | 135,000 |
Paul Berende | Netherlands | PokerStars qualifier | 108,000 |
Antonio Mitrotta | Italy | 103,000 |
But the day was dominated by the bubble, one which lasted longer than expected and included some short stack heroics.
As Nick Wright put it earlier, the bubble brings with it various degrees of relief:
“They’re delighted to now have locked up a cash because… they’ve essentially achieved their goal. The mid-stacks are happy because now they can actually start playing some poker… and the big stacks are happy because well, they’re a big stack.”
While Christopher Adler is the unhappiest man in Malta tonight, going out on the bubble, the happiest is surely Andrew Atkinson, out in 95th place after having survived the bubble with less than a small blind.
Join us then.
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Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.
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