Day 3 of the 2018 WSOP Main Event concluded late on Saturday at the host venue, Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. It was an eventful day at the casino, as the players from the first three starting flights and then from the Days 2AB and C combined for the very first time since the beginning of this year’s World Championship. In addition, the money bubble burst late on Saturday.

As many as 2,786 hopefuls entered Day 3 of the Main Event, all hoping to make it into the money and further into the tournament. A total of 1,182 players survived through the day to progress into Day 4. They are all guaranteed a minimum cash of $15,000.

This year’s edition of the prestigious poker event attracted an overall field of 7,874, the second largest ever in WSOP history. A prize pool of $74,015,600 was generated. The money would be split among the top 1,182 finishers.

The bubble burst late on Day 3. That important point in the tournament was preceded by players slowing pace more and more as no one really wanted to become the unfortunate bubble boy and leave the tournament empty-handed. Matthew Hopkins was eventually the one to claim that title. The player left in 1,183rd place after clashing against Bryce McVay. Although he left with no payout, the player was awarded an entry into next year’s WSOP Main Event.

The remaining contenders will be lead into the event’s next stage by In Sun Geoum, a player from New York with 11 previous in-the-money finishes in WSOP events. Geoum bagged and tagged 1.696 million in chips last night. An aces-versus-kings confrontation toward the end of the day rocketed the player to the top of the temporary leaderboard.

Frank Flowers (pictured) collected the second largest stack at the end of Day 3. The player was cheerful throughout the day, laughing with fellow contenders while accumulating chips. He eventually put 1.624 million in his bag. Samuel Bernabeu with 1.418 million, Michael Lavenburg with 1.356 million, and Julius Malzanini with 1.292 million rounded out the top five of the Day 3 leaderboard.

Many notables came into Day 3 of the Main Event and many of them busted before the money. The likes of Phil Hellmuth, Matt Waxman, Eli Elezra, Steffen Sontheimer, and Parker Talbot were few of those who could not reach the paid places.

Phil Ivey, another notable who entered the tournament, bagged a nice chip stack of over 800,000 into Day 4. Little has been seen of Ivey over the past several years. The player has avoided the live tournament scene and it has been quite some time since he last took part in the Main Event. Ivey already has 10 gold bracelets and more than $6.6 million in earnings from the series, but has never won the World Championship.

Day 4 action is set to resume at the host casino today at 11 am local time. Five more levels will be played so that the event’s field be reduced further.

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