Day 3 of the 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event has come to an end with the money bubble bursting. A total of 1,000 remain out of the 6,650 hopefuls that took a shot at the $10,000 buy-in marquee event. Jessica Cai is the current chip leader with a shade under 1.8M. Chris Moneymaker bagged 1.4M and he's ranked #11 heading into Day 4.
That was quick. The money bubble is one of the most exciting and exhilarating moments at the World Series of Poker and certainly one of the more gripping moments at the WSOP Main Event. Let's not forget this is an amateur heavy event with many poker dreamers taking their first shot at the glory, fame, and prestige of the Main Event and its $10,000 buy-in. Some lo-fi poker players save up for a shot at the Main Event. Others wait until they grind their bankroll up to 10K before taking a shot. Some others are lucky to find friends and family willing to stake them. Others will earn their way into the Main Event via a satellite. And I'm sure a couple of degens scraped together their last dollars to take one more shot at the big time. Whichever way you cut it, everyone who buys into the Main Event has a $10K lottery ticket that could be worth $8 million. But for the noobs and amateurs, a min-cash at the WSOP Main Event is sincere highlight and pinnacle of their brief poker career. Whereas for a pro, it's just business as usual or another mile marker on the long journey to the final table and winner's circle that is still several grueling days away.
The 2021 WSOP Main Event began with 6,650 runners. By the start of Day 3, there were only 2,362 remaining. By the end of Day 3, only 1,000 were left in the hunt for the coveted Main Event bracelet and first-place prize of $8 million. The money bubble can be a prickly thing. It was on pace to burst late on Thursday, but it could've been extended into Friday morning. Alas, the bubble burst and the room at the Rio exploded in jubilation with min-cashes for everyone who survived the Day 3 carnage.
Kevin Campbell was the Bubble Person that saw his Aces snapped off and he hit the bricks in 1,001th place. He still earned a booby prize of $15,000 and a whiff of 15 minutes of fame with his name plastered over every poker news site in the universe.
Florida's Jessica Cai emerged as the chip leader. She bagged nearly 1.8M and all eyes will be on her when action resumes on Friday for the final 1,000. Phachara Wongwichit, a pro from Thailand who is ranked #1 in all-time winnings in Thailand, is second in chips with 1.77M.
Among those still alive after Day 3 include David Williams, Jason Koon, David The Dragoon Pham, Clement Van Driessche, Niko Koop, Maxx Holland, Mitch Halverson, Brian Hu, David Levy, Jacob Powers, Koray Aldemir, Ryan D'Angelo, David Tuchman, Chance Kornuth, JJ Liu, Ben Yu, Stevie Chidwick, Joon Park, Kevin Gerhart, Pierre De Almeida, Qui Nguyen, Freddy Darakjian, Garry Gates, Jameson Painter, David Procial, Chad Eveslage, Pat Mahoney, Frank Funaro, Allen Le, Felix Weiss, Ivan Deyra, Arnaud Mattern, Bart Lybaert, Asher Conniff, Dan Heimiller, Matt Berkey, Kitty Kuo, Ivan Demidov, Mike Matusow, Alex Outhred, Joao Vieira, ELKY, Bruan Yoon, Pete Chen, Anton Wigg, Joao Simao, Josh Prager, Billy Baxter, Sonny Franco, Justin Liberto, Robert Mizrachi, Victor Ramdin, Antoine Labat, Adam Owen, Josh Jackson, Mark Newhouse, Steve Z, Martin Jacobson, Chris Moorman, Fabian Gumz, Jonathan Aguiar, Roland Israelashvili, Kathy Liebert, Brock Wilson, and Romain Lewis.
Day 4 resumes at the Rio on Friday at Level 16 with blinds at 4K/8K and 8K ante.
2021 WSOP Main Event
Buy-in: $10,000
Entrants: 6,650
Remaining: 1,000
Prize Pool: $62,011,250
Payouts: 1,000
TOP 10 CHIP COUNTS:
1. Jessica Cai 1,796,000
2. Phachara Wongwichit 1,773,000
3. Joshua Paige Remitio 1,671,000
4. Ehsan Amiri 1,574,000
5. Roman Valerstein 1,560,000
6. Neel Choksi 1,552,000
7. Stephen Song 1,551,000
8. Dragana Lim 1,539,000
9. Jordan Jayne 1,525,000
10. Andreas Kniep 1,509,000
