Friday, June 19, 2015 5:19 AM Local Time
Vengrin Leads Final Three; Idema Hunting For Bracelet #3
Matt Vengrin Leads Final Three in Event #35
On Thursday, Day 3 of Event #35: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E kicked off with 29 players returning to the felt. Despite the intention of reaching a winner by the conclusion of Day 3, three players ended up bagging for the night. After ten full levels of play, Matt Vengrin leads the final three with hopes of earning his first gold World Series of Poker bracelet and $261,774 in first-place prize money.
Despite holding the chip lead, Vengrin's path to success will not be an easy one. Standing in his way is second-place in chips Kevin Iacofano. Though he's also searching for his first gold bracelet, Iacofano has amassed over $314,000 in lifetime earnings at the WSOP. Bringing up the rear is none other than two-time bracelet winner Daniel Idema. Idema is in the hunt for his third piece of WSOP jewelry and will return with the shortest stack of 1.08 million.
The day began at a slow pace, losing just one player in the first level. From that point on, however, the eliminations came more rapidly and the field drew closer to a final table. Notable eliminations on Day 3 include Ted Forrest (28th), Joe Hachem (22nd), Allen Kessler (19th), Gabriel Nassif (17th), Mike Leah (13th), and David Benyamine (12th). Farzad Bonyadi was eliminated in 10th place, sending the field into the unofficial final table of nine. David Oppenheim was the next to go, solidifying the official final table.
Taylor Paur, who led the field for most of Day 2, was the first elimination at the official final table. He fell to Paul Sexton during an Omaha Hi-Lo hand. Following Paur to the rail was last year's $10K H.O.R.S.E. runner-up and bracelet winner Randy Ohel.
Despite eliminating Paur from play, Sexton was the next player to fall. He was eliminated by Vengrin during a hand of razz where he was unfortunately left drawing dead at sixth street. Iakov Nepomniashchiy fell in fifth with Vengrin once again being the player to put the nail in the coffin.
The final player eliminated on Day 3 was John Racener. Racener ended up calling all in before the flop against Iacofano in a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo. Iacofano flopped a low and turned a straight to end Racener's hopes at winning a bracelet.
The final three will return to the Amazon room at 2 p.m. on Friday where they will play to a champion. As always, be sure to tune into WSOP.com as this tournament reaches its exciting conclusion.