Bubble Looms In The Main Event At WSOP 2013

Doyle is defying the years and returns to a big stack on day 4

Greg Merson continues to make steady progress

Event 62 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event

Day 3 of the main event saw everybody playing simultaneously for the first time as 1,753 hopefuls came together in the Rio in search of the most coveted prize in poker. By the end of the day 666 were left which meant that they were agonizingly close to the money, but another 18 players need to fall on day 4 before anybody can start celebrating.

Phil Hellmuth will not be one of those who will be taking a seat on day 4, having lost the last of his chips with tens versus jacks on a low flop. Nor will fellow former main event champion Johnny Chan who was the one with jacks in his bust out hand, but his opponent’s managed to find a two outer when the river brought the .

Phil Ivey was also a casualty on day 3, going down in a cooler hand against Max Steinberg. On a flop of Phil Ivey had made bottom set but was in huge trouble against Steinberg's and that hand spelled the end of Ivey's WSOP. 2012 brought five final tables for Phil Ivey yet 2013 could scarcely have been more different as he has recorded just one solitary cash for $15,544.

For Steinberg, that hand was the icing on a miraculous day in which he started as one of the smaller stacks on just 39,000 chips. At the close of play, he was sitting in third place with 987,500 (247 BBs), just behind Joshua Prager (993,000) and chip leader Maxx Coleman on 1,071,500.

A few other notable big stacks include:

Vladimir Geshkenbein – 900,000

Doyle Brunson – 626,000

Luke “FullFlush1” Schwartz – 620,500

Annette Obrestad – 564,000

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – 444,000

Also still going strong is current champion Greg Merson (390,500) who is on course to become the first main event winner to follow up with a deep run in defence of his title since Peter Eastgate.

Play is likely to be very slow when day 4 starts up with everybody so close to the money, but once the bubble bursts things can get a bit manic and by the end of the day anybody still left in will be at a very serious stage in the tournament.