The third day of the WSOPE Main Event began with 165 players from a total 659 entries, but the money was reserved for the top 99. The day started cautiously, as many qualifiers dreamed of at least a €20,000 payout.
The unlucky bubble boy was Kęstutis Jungėvičius with pocket A s A d. On a flop of A h 8 d 9 s, he hit top set and ended up all-in against Ran Ilani holding 7 s 6 d. The turn T h completed Ilani's straight, and after a blank river in the form of 2 d, applause filled the room.
A few minutes after the bubble burst, a flurry of eliminations began, which saw the exit of Italian champion Giuliano Bendinelli (72nd place), Day 2 leader Michael Sklenička (62nd place), and French pro Pierre Calamusa (59th place).
Kabrhel's Momentum
Yesterday was dominated by one name – Martin Kabrhel. He first survived a critical moment when Yuhan Wang folded tens to his shove, soon after, Kabrhel knocked fellow countryman Pavel Binár out (AQ > AJ). And when Wang later made a massive river shove, Kabrhel, holding a full house, easily called.
The Czech phenomenon and two-time bracelet winner caught a perfect wind, wrapping up the day with the largest stack. Martin managed to grow his stack to 4.8 million, which will represent 161 big blinds at the start of Day 4. Trailing him are Italians Claudio Di Giacomo (151bb) and Lulei Hu (140bb).
Top 10 after Day 3:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Stack |
| 1 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 4,815,000 |
| 2 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 4,520,000 |
| 3 | Lulei Hu | Italy | 4,185,000 |
| 4 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 3,465,000 |
| 5 | Murilo Garcia | Brazil | 3,105,000 |
| 6 | Jan-Willem Nijmeijer | Netherlands | 2,995,000 |
| 7 | Artem Kobylynskyi | Ukraine | 2,900,000 |
| 8 | Teemu Jaatinen | Finland | 2,490,000 |
| 9 | Dimitrios Gkatzas | Greece | 2,330,000 |
| 10 | Bastian Gallitzendoerfer | Germany | 2,175,000 |
Among the notable names still in the game are Ran Ilani (1,800,000), EPT champion Daniel Pidun (1,945,000), Vlastimil Pustina (1,890,000), Aliaksandr Shylko (1,165,000), Yuhan Wang (960,000), the 2023 defending champion Max Neugebauer (930,000), and Czech representative Josef Gulas (780,000), who could follow in the family tradition after his son’s triumph in 2021.
Day 4 kicks off today at 1:00 PM with a level of 20,000/40,000 and a big blind ante of 40,000. All remaining players are guaranteed at least €31,000, while this year's European champion will take home €1,140,000 and the most coveted bracelet. The race to the final nine will proceed at a high pace – and judging by yesterday, it's going to be a noisy one in the hall!
Sources – Kings-resort, PokerNews, Photo Tomas Stacha
