Tony Guoga had surged to the head of the leaderboard with victories on the first two days of play, but he slowed down considerably on Day 3, gaining only one point. That one point is now all that separates Tony from Andy Black whose two consecutive victories have helped him over come his last place finish on Day 1.
The second match on Day 3 saw Tony Guoga, Marcel Lüske, Annie Duke, Alex Kravchenko, Dave Ulliott, and Vicky Coren seated at the table. There was very little excitement early in the match, as cautious play dictated the pace of play. Marcel Lüske would be the first player to be eliminated, falling when he went all-in with [Ah][Jh] and was dominated by Tony Guoga’s [Ad][Qh]. Marcel needed help to survive, which he did not get on a board of [Kd][10d][4s][As][3s]. On the 56th hand of the match, “The Flying Dutchman” was eliminated.
Soon after the first elimination, Tony Guoga found himself facing his first elimination of the tournament. Tony had pushed all-in with [Jd][6d] and was called by Annie Duke, who held [As][10h]. Tony had live cards and was looking for some help. The flop came [Kh][9c][8h], no help. The turn was [Ad], giving Annie a pair of aces. Tony was now drawing dead. An irrelevant [4d] came on the river to complete the board. Tony Guoga was eliminated in fifth place, earning one point.
Vicky Coren would be the next player to run into Annie Duke and regret it. Coren called Annie Duke’s all-in raise preflop with [Ah][10s], while Annie held the dominating hand of [Ac][Js]. Both players hit their low pairs on a flop of [Jh][10h][7h], maintaining the status quo. Neither the [8d] on the turn or the [5d] on the river gave Vicky Coren any help, and she was gone in fourth place.
Annie Duke was not going to be stopped Dave Ulliot pushed all of his chips into the middle with [Ac][6h]. Annie held [Qd][Qs] and made the call. The board was no help for Ulliott, revealing [9d][7h][5s][3h][Kh], and “The Devilfish” was sent to the rail in third place.
Despite suffering from a 5:1 disadvantage in chips, Alex Kravchenko was determined not to let Annie Duke have an easy victory. It took thirty hands for Annie to subdue Kravchenko, doing so when Kravchenko went all-in with [Ac][3s] and she held [Ad][Qd]. Kravchenko was dominated and would need some help to survive. The flop of [Kd][10c][10h] gave no help. Neither did the [2h] on the turn or the [Jc] on the river. Annie Duke had won her match and earned the nine points that went with the victory.
After three days of play, more gaps were developing between the players at the top of the leader board and those at the back. Below are the current standings:
Tony Guoga with 19 points
Andy Black with 18 points
Annie Duke with 15 points
Eddy Scharf and Alex Kravchenko with 13 points
Roland de Wolfe with 11 points
Vicky Coren with 8 points
Marcel Lüske and Ian Frazer with 6 points
Phill Hellmuth with 5 points
Dave Ulliott with 4 points
Juha Helppi with 2 points