WPT Legends of Poker Down to Three Tables

Just 79 players returned to the Bicycle Casino for Day 3 of the 2008 Legends of Poker Championship. Adam Weinraub was the chip leader with 461,900 chips. Matt Keikoan, who won his first WSOP bracelet his year, was second with 328,300. The plan for Day 3 was to play until the money bubble burst, but the players were busting out so fast that they decided to play down to 27 instead.

Tony Ma, Jared Hamby, Matt Stout, Toto Leonidas, Gabe Kaplan, and Kelly Kim of the 'November Nine' were some of the early casualties. Kathy Liebert got her Kings cracked by AK during the first level and she joined the rush to the door. Daniel Negreanu got his last chips in with pocket 9s and got action from Robert Cheung's KQ suited. Robert turned the flush and Daniel turned for the door.

Antonio Esfandiari, Mike Wattel, Barry Greenstein, Raymond Davis, Erik Seidel, Tuan Le, and Erick Lindgren continued the parade of pros out the door. Reigning WPT champion David Chiu ran his full house into quads and was busted just three spots from the money. Mark Seif was right behind him, missing the money by just two spots. Ali Eslami, who was the chip leader at the end of day 1B, got his chips in with top pair, only to run into pocket Kings. Ali was the bubble-boy, just missing the money.

After ten hours, they reached the final three tables, 27 players, and called it a night. These nine players left with $14,085, in this order (36th to 28th): Van Nguyen, Andrew Shack, Kevin Zhu, James Sileo, Josh Vanduyn, Max Pescatori, Justin Scott, Mark Wilds and Matt Graham.

Adam Weinraub had a rough day, losing a huge pot set over set, but managed to survive and will return for Day 4 with 181,000 chips. Paul Smith ended the day as chip leader with 956,000, thanks in large part to his pocket Kings cracking Justin Scott's pocket Aces. Amit Makhija doubled up right at the end of the day with a straight versus two pair. He ended the day second in chips with 842,000. Layne Flack's stack had been going up and down all day like a yo-yo, but he ended the day with 807,000, good for third place. Trong Nguyen started Day 3 dead-last in chips with only 16,250. In an incredible feat, he ended the day near the middle of the pack with 457,000, better than the average of 414,400. Maria Ho is the lone female that will return for Day 4. She ended the day with only 158,000 chips.

Day 4 play will begin at 2 p.m. PDT Wednesday and will continue until the only 6 players remain. Those six will return Thursday at 5 p.m. for filming of the final table. Follow the action live on PokerPages.com!

Here's a reminder of what is still at stake:

Place -- Payout

1 $1,116,428*

2 $563,320

3 $281,645

4 $246,450

5 $211,245

6 $176,035

7 $140,830

8 $105,620

9 $70,415

10-12 $42,250

13-15 $35,205

16-18 $28,165

19-27 $21,125

* Includes a $25,000 seat in the Season 7 WPT Championship.