This morning 57 people woke up, brushed their teeth, showered and headed out into the glorious sunshine of Venice. They were all poker players, and as they walked down the street they mingled with other mere mortals all heading off to work. That is what day three of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Venice was all about, getting up, going to work and earning a crust. It was money time and only three people were going to go away empty handed.
John Eames is a young professional poker player from Southport in the UK. Last year he had two six figure cashes in side events in some of the biggest tournaments around Europe. He also cashed in at 31st place at WPT Amneville last year. When Eames arrived for work today he had a very short shift. In fact it was one hand – the very first hand! Nicolas Cardyn raised on the button and Eames moved all-in from the small blind with 
and Cardyn called with pocket sevens. Eames did not pick up his pay packet.
Max Lykov then claimed his first of any scalps when he eliminated Salvatore D’Arrigo and we were down to the bubble.
When the bubble eventually burst it was 13:26 and the unfortunate player was Mario Spurio. Spurio got all the money in the middle, in very good shape, with a set of tens on a 
board against the 
of Alessio Isaia. Isaia hit his flush on the turn and everyone in the room cheered except Spurio himself. He walked away into another room before returning to very graciously congratulate Isaia.
The eliminations then came thick and fast. Dario Minieri was eliminated at the hands of the young Swedish player Joakim Jagerving when his pocket sixes lost a fight against pocket queens. Then two of the three Party Poker qualifiers, William Ullauri and Fabian Holling were eliminated. Holling’s elimination was difficult for him to take. He was leading Max Lykov on the turn with 
on a board of 
against Lykov’s 
, when the dealer gave us a 
on the river, to fill in a flush for Lykov.
Jose Barbero was the next to go when he went in ahead and came out behind in a pre flop shoving match against that man Isaia again. Then as we crept into level 19 Andrea Ferrari picked up pocket kings twice to eliminate first Matteo Cimmino and then Party Poker Team pro Dragan Galic. Carla Solinas was our last woman seated until she was eliminated in 25th place. Incredibly, Solinas was also last years WPT Venice last woman seated when she cashed in 42nd place.
Then we were down to twenty players and it was Isaia and Lykov again as they ended the hopes of Cristiano Guerra and the last remaining Party Poker Qualifier Stefano Ricci right at the end of level 20.
Alessio Isaia and Max Lykov had single handedly dominated the eliminations and it was the Italian Isaia that ended the day as the chip leader with 1,900,000 chips. Max Lykov finished 2nd with 1,534,000.
Top 10 chip counts at the end of the Day 3
1.ISAIA ALESSIO 1.900.000
2.LYKOV MAXIM 1.534.500
3.MAYER SZABOLCS SANDOR 1.281.000
4.FERRARI ANDREA 1.235.500
5.VAMPLEW DAVID SAMUEL 1.178.500
6.RODRIGUES EMMANUELALEXANDRE 1.167.500
7.TABATABAI REZA JOHN 1.143.000
8.SPERANZA ALESSANDRO 991.000
9.GARRIGUES ADRIEN CAMILLE 950.500
10.FABRI CHRISTIAN 861.000
You can catch all of the live updates from Day 3 here. Follow the day 4 here.
WPT Venice Day 3 image gallery
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