Bodog Beat

Poker pro Nenad Medic is just one of the big names lurking near the top of the WPT Festa al Lago leaderboard. (Bodog Beat Image)

The breakneck speed of eliminatios at the WPT Festa al Lago continued during Day 3 yesterday as the field plowed through the money bubble, drawing ever closer to crowning a champion. Currently leading the way is Ryan Fair, who took adavantage of sharing a table with Daniel Negreanu and used most of his chips to mount an assault on the field, dropping the Canadian poker pro from the chip lead to start to being eliminated on the bubble.

In fact, in a moment that was telling of the whole day, three people busted out in that same bubble hand. It was decided that Jenn Tilly would split 50th place money with Negreanu and Ted Lawson after a somewhat controversial ruling in which she thought that their hand had ended when in fat it was in the same orbit as hers. So, instead of receiving $21,315 for 49th, she walked away with $7,105, a negative return of almost $8,000 on the event. Ouch.

Once the money bubble drama had settled down, the field once again began shedding players and dropped down to 34 before play ended for the day. Among the remaining players are poker pros Joe Sebok, Nenad Medic, Brad Booth, Nam Le, Scott Clements, Daniel Alaei, Andrew "good2cu" Robl, Team Bodog's Justin Bonomo and Erica Schoenberg.

With the final table not scheduled to play out until Sunday, if the field gets down to the final six tonight, then the players will get to take a relaxing day off tomorrow. However, play will most likey tighten up as we get closer to the big bucks, so expect to see two shorter days rather than one full day off.

Stay tuned for more WPT Festa al Lago updates from the Bodog Beat and don't forget that you can get started on your way to becoming a WPT millionaire for as little as a $1. Check out how to qualify online for the WPT and get one of the $12,000 Player's Choice packages on offer.