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Legends of Poker WPT Season 3

Event #30 - WPT Main Event - No Limit Hold'em (Day 3)

August 30, 2004 at 3:15 PM
Bicycle Casino
Tournament Schedule

Prize Pool	$3,335,000
Entries	667
Report Available

Lee Watkinson

Place	Name	Prize
1	Lee Watkinson (Cheney, WA, USA)	Going to final table with 2,466,000
2	Doyle Brunson (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	Going to final table with 1,631,000
3	Joe Awada (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	Going to final table with 1,064,000
4	Peter Lawson (Sandy, UT, USA)	Going to final table with 1,056,000
5	Tom Lee (Seattle, WA, USA)	Going to final table with 272,000
6	Grant Helling (Naperville, IL, USA)	Going to final table with 215,000
7	Paul Phillips (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	82625.00
8	Edward "Bolivia" Moncada (Oakland, CA, USA)	66100.00
9	Perry Friedman AKA "The Baiter" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	49575.00
10	John Sacha (Denver, CO, USA)	33050.00
11	Stephen Gin (North York, ON, Canada)	33050.00
12	Adam Schoenfeld (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	33050.00
13	Hans "Tuna" Lund (Lake Tahoe CA)	29745.00
14	Michael Dean (Dunedin, FL, USA)	29745.00
15	Seyedin Moji (Henderson NV)	29745.00
16	Harry Thomas (Hamilton, OH, USA)	23125.00
17	Gabe Kaplan (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	23125.00
18	Larry Eubanks (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	23125.00
19	Mark Wilds (Biloxi, MS, USA)	16525.00
20	Marcello Cabrera (Visalia, CA, USA)	16525.00
21	Rufus Nagel (Denver, CO, USA)	16525.00
22	Ronnie Ebanks AKA "the loveman" (Hollywood Beach, FL, USA)	16525.00
23	Andy Miller (Abilene, TX, USA)	16525.00
24	David Whitemore (Quincey, MA, USA)	16525.00
25	Reagan Silber (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	16525.00
26	Ashok Surapaneni (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	16525.00
27	Michael Yoshino (San Marino, CA, USA)	16525.00
28	Louis Laxineta AKA "2 card Lou" (Malibu, CA, USA)	11570.00
29	Jennifer Harman Traniello AKA "Jen" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	11570.00
30	Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (Pacific Palisades / Las Vegas, CA, USA)	11570.00
31	Scott Berriman (Clawson, MO, USA)	11570.00
32	Cuong Huynh (Bell Gardens, CA, USA)	11570.00
33	Nekpal Singh (Meza, AZ, USA)	11570.00
34	Paul Lom (San Jose, CA, USA)	11570.00
35	Martin Schaffel (Tampa, FL, USA)	11570.00
36	Timothy Morgan (Hilton, NY, USA)	11570.00
37	Shahryar Aslam	7980.00
38	William Agver (Dubuque, IA, USA)	7980.00
39	Brian Walker (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	7980.00
40	Stephan Borrero (S Pasadena, CA, USA)	7980.00
41	Alan Peter Smurfit (Aventura, FL, USA)	7980.00
42	Eric Ford (Tigaro, OR, USA)	7980.00
43	Chris Hinchcliffe AKA "Hinch" (Olympia, WA, USA)	7980.00
44	Jeff Shulman (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	7980.00
45	Robert Blechman AKA "Rabbit" (Culver City, CA, USA)	7980.00
46	Nikzad Hooman (Scottsdale, AZ, USA)	6490.00
47	Salam Kassis (Temecula, CA, USA)	6490.00
48	Michael Breault (Dracut, MA, USA)	6490.00
49	Steven Taylor (Richfield, WA, USA)	6490.00
50	David Rubin (Mill Valley, CA, USA)	6490.00
51	Michael Tom (San Gabriel, CA, USA)	6490.00
52	Mike Caro (Shell Krob, MO, USA)	6490.00
53	Desmond Portano (Brooklyn, NY, USA)	6490.00
54	Keith Sexton (Henderson, NV, USA)	6490.00
55	Juan Carlos Mortensen AKA "El Matador" (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	5000.00
56	Padraig Parkinson (Dublin, Ireland)	5000.00
57	Tam Hang (Seattle, WA, USA)	5000.00
58	Paul Kraus (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	5000.00
59	Robert Zalar (Carmichaels, PA, USA)	5000.00
60	Jim Ferrel (Phoenix, AZ, USA)	5000.00
61	Ramzi Daniel (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	5000.00
62	Yoshio Nakano (Long Beach, CA, USA)	5000.00
63	Chris "The Armenian Express" Grigorian (Panorama City, CA, USA)	5000.00

Tournament Report

As six players prepare to do battle tomorrow for a first-place prize of $1,173,260 plus a $25,000 Bellagio seat in the Legends of Poker 2004 Championship/WPT televised event, Lee Watkinson will arrive with a sizeable chip lead of $2,466,000. The “King of Poker,” the legendary Doyle Brunson, is in second place with $1,631,000. Watkinson started the third day in second chip position, took the lead at the second table and then vaulted ahead when he made a straight and took down a massive pot in three-way action. Watkinson, who lives in Lakeway, Washington, is currently in third place in this year’s WPT tour with $562,937, behind Surinder Sunar with $679,860 and Eli Elezra with $1,024,574.
Day 3 started with 62 players left. The top 23, with 100,000 or more chips, were Michael Yoshino, 347,900; Watkinson, 305,200; Gabe Kaplan, 274,100; Pete Lawson, 268,000; Stephane Borrero, 258,000; Paul Phillips, 251,000; Rufus Nagel, 247,900; Edward Moncada, 233,400; Moji Seyedin, 226,900; Reagan Silber, 223,900; and Hooman Nikzad, 206,100. Two other WSOP champs started day 3: Chris Ferguson finished 30th and Carlos Mortensen ended up 55th. Jennifer Harman was the last woman out in 29th place.
The tournament got down to two tables just before 9 p.m. when Mark Wilds opened for $30,000 with A-Q and got moved in and busted by a player with A-K. Perry Friedman at this point was chip leader with about $870,000, while Watkinson was a close second with around $830,000. Blinds were now $4,000-$8,000 with $1,000 antes.
Larry Eubanks was the first of the 18 finalists to leave when he moved in for $167,000 with A-5 off and lost to John Sacha’s pocket kings. Kaplan was next out on a very bad beat. The actor/poker player pushed in his remaining $140,000 with pocket 5s. Friedman called with pocket 4s and snagged a 4 on the river. Kaplan, who has tailed off on his poker playing, has a $210,000 win at the Super Bowl, but cashed
Level 17 was played with blinds of $6,000-$12,000 and $1,000 antes. Watkinson had now moved into the lead with about $1,125,000. Harry Thomas Jr., who had already been all in several times, fell victim to a brutal beat. He pushed in for about $140,000 with As-Qs. Sacha called with Ad-4h and flushed when four hearts hit. Finishing 15th was Moji. He had A-9, hit two pair when an A-10-9 flopped and moved in for around $70,000. Brunson was waiting for him with a set of 10s.
With midnight approaching, Friedman opened for $40,000 and the veteran Hans “Tuna” Lund went all in for $241,000 more with pocket queens. Friedman matched him with A-Q and flopped an ace. “Terrible call,” muttered Tuna as he swam off in 13th place. A couple of hands later, the flop was K-10-5. Card Player columnist Adam Schoenfeld had K-Q and called when Sacha moved in with K-5. A king on the river filled Sacha and now 11 were left.
When level 18 got underway with $2,000 antes and blinds of $8,000-$16,000, Watkinson had increased his lead to about $1.4 million. Now came the key pot of the night. Stephen Gin was all in with K-5. The board showed Q-5-2-3. Friedman, with A-Q, bet $50,000 and Watkinson, holding 6c4c for a straight and a redraw to a straight flush, made it $250,000 to go, and got another $200,000 off Friedman by betting the river. The field was down to 10 and Watkinson was up to about $2.5 million.
The finalists regrouped at one table. They had barely sat down before three players were out in three hands. Brunson once again had pocket 10s and bet $300,000. Sacha had pocket 8s and raised all in for another $100,000. The board came J-J-3-5-3, and nine were left. Amazingly, on the next hand, Brunson had those same two 10s. (Was he holding out the cards?) Friedman had A-J and opened for $50,000. Texas Dolly made it $200,000 to go and Friedman pushed in all his $232,000. The board came Q-8-7-3-K, and Friedman was out in ninth place. And one hand later, Moncada moved in $150,000 with K-10. Yelia “Joe” Awada, the CEO of a gaming entertainment company and the reigning 7-card stud champion, called and put him out with A-K.
After the three bust-outs in a row, a lot more hands went by before the last player left. Paul Phillips moved in for $105,000 with K-J. “I got that,” said Brunson, calling with Ac-3c. The board showed Q-10-2-4-8 and we were ready for the day four finale.
The three other players have little if anything in the way of major tournament credentials. Pete Lawson of Sandy, Utah, is a pro player. Tom Lee of Denver, Colorado, is a real estate broker and former helicopter pilot. And Grant Helling, from Noperville, Illinois, is an electrical contractor. We’ll see how they do against the big boys tomorrow.
--Max Shapiro