The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a moderate raise in interest rates that’s sure to get the mid-afternoon poker news dollar trading at an all-time high. You can always fire your own suggestions for future 3-bet pieces in the comments section below. Or just at @ us on Twitter. You know the drill. In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Qui Nguyen title defense coming to an end, another WSOP bracelet on eBay and a surprisingly Phil Ivey appearance.
1) Qui Nguyen Falls on Day 2ab
The Main Event will decide a new champion this year. Qui Nguyen’s title defense ended midway through Day 2ab of the Main Event yesterday when his top pair failed against James Akenhead’s flash draw.
Nguyen has been an exceptionally quiet world champion (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and his $8m score in the 2016 Main Event remains his last recorded cash.
Meanwhile the U.K.’s Lawrence Bayley, who is playing the Main Event for the first time, ascended the chip counts and ended with a field-leading 618,000 chips on Day 2ab. American Mickey Craft is a close second with 608,100.
Some of the other notable stacks include Marvin Rettenmaier (359,100), Charlie Carrel (343,000), Melanie Weisner (319,400), Mike Matusow (228,000) and Joe Hachem (134,000).
Of course Day 2c kicks off at 12 p.m. today, which means tomorrow we’ll have everyone under the same roof for the first time. In other words: Things are about to get real.
Here’s a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of Day 2ab:
1. Lawrence Bayley – 618,000
2. Mickey Craft – 608,100
3. Richard Gryko – 564,000
4. Scott Anderson – 560,000
5. Sergio Castelluccio – 548,500
6. Michael Sklenicka – 540,600
7. Joseph Conor – 511,100
8. Koen Breed – 480,000
9. Grayson Ramage – 471,000
10. Larry SMalley – 469,000
2) Bid on Team Liv/Igor’s Bracelet
Need a WSOP bracelet but don’t necessarily have the skills to win one? You’re in luck. Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov have put one of the bracelets they won in the tag-team event that opened the 2017 WSOP up for grabs. That is not exactly an uncommon practice because many, many poker players including Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold and Tom McEvoy have all put their bracelets on eBay.
This time around Boeree and Kurganov aren’t offering the bracelet to pay for a buy-in or pocket some cash, however, as the proceeds will benefit REG charity. It’s especially interesting because this is actually an extra bracelet. It turns out the WSOP always orders four bracelets for the tag-team event just in case a four-player team wins.
Boeree and Kurganov, who already donated half their $273k first-place prize to REG, simply asked the WSOP if they could auction off the unused bracelet for charity and the WSOP agreed. At the time this article was published the bidding had reached $4,000 with 18 individual bids so you better get going if you want to secure that piece of poker history.
3) Phil Ivey Spotted in Bellagio Cash Game
It seemed like the exact moment we posted Phil Ivey had skipped the entire 2017 WSOP yesterday he popped up in Bobby’s Room wearing sunglasses. What the deuce?
The sunglasses are especially odd considering Ivey never wears them at the table. Trying to keep things low-profile? Regardless it looks like a fun game with Lyle Berman, Doyle Brunson, Scott Seiver and Gus Hansen at the table.
Of course there is one major reason Ivey may be staying out of the limelight at the WSOP. He’s scheduled to appear in court tomorrow in the UK for a final hearing on whether he has to give up on ever getting the £7.8m he was able to win playing Punta Banco at Crockford’s using that edge-sorting technique.
Thanks to Instagrammer giligirl85 for snapping the shot of Ivey.
