Lautaro Guerra raised to 170,000 in the cutoff. Oleksii Kovalchuk then three-bet jameed for 525,000 from the small blind, getting an instant call from Guerra.
Kovalchuk flopped a flush on 7♣Q♣9♣, locking up the pot on the 4♥ turn. Guerra cut out what he owed as the 9♠ river hit, being left with 14 big blinds.
Daniel Tordjman opened under the gun and "Jay" shipped in his stack of 755,000 from the hijack. It folded back to Tordjman, who obliged with a call.
"Jay": A♥K♦J♦5♥
Daniel Tordjman: 6♠6♥5♠3♥
Both players flopped a piece on J♥5♣8♥, but "Jay"s jacks remained best on the 10♣ turn and 8♠ river, taking down the pot and doubling up to a seven-figure stack.
Three days ago, Tom Vogelsang won his first-ever Diamond Poker Series even by shipping the €5,200 Opener of the PLO Grand Slam. Vogelsang invested a portion of his €234,200 victory by entering the series' flagship event, the €10,300 PLO Championship, and not without result. Vogelsang has made it to the final day of the event, sitting second in chips with only 11 of the 191 entries between him and his second title of the week.
Vogelsang's stack of 5,695,000 may be good for nearly 100 big blinds when play resumes at 2 p.m. local time at Arena Casino Tirana, it still dwarfs in comparison to chipleader Daniel Tordjman's 12,575,000, almost a third of the chips in play. The Frenchman usually plays low- to mid-stakes tournaments, with this being his first recorded cash in a five-figure buy-in. In fact, the €32,000 the players have locked up would be Tordjman's third-biggest recorded win. However, Tordjman fit right in with the high-stakes crushers, acquiring the massive lead with his aggressive playstyle.
Daniel Tordjman
PLO wizard Gergo Nagy comes back third in chips with 4,300,000, while Norwegian high roller Tom-Aksel Bedell is the last player with an above-average stack, starting Day 3 with 3,485,000. Andrew Ige will be looking to improve his ninth-place finish in the Opener as he returns with 2,815,000, while Lautaro Guerra is the only player from previous edition's final table to make it this far, bringing 1,650,000 to Day 3.
Start of Day 3 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Daniel Tordjman
France
12,575,000
210
2
Tom Vogelsang
Netherlands
5,695,000
95
3
Gergo Nagy
Hungary
4,300,000
72
4
Tom-Aksel Bedell
Norway
3,485,000
58
5
Kasparas Klezys
Lithuania
2,875,000
48
6
Andrew Ige
United States
2,815,000
47
7
Leon Freiholz
Germany
2,460,000
41
8
Lautaro Guerra
Spain
1,650,000
28
9
Sofoklis Palekythritis
Cyprus
1,255,000
21
10
"Jay"
755,000
13
11
Maksim Shuts
Belarus
705,000
12
12
Oleksii Kovalchuk
Ukraine
645,000
11
Lautaro Guerra
The €10,300 Championship fell just short of reaching its guarantee, meaning the €1,880,000 prize pool contains a bit of overlay for the players. The eventual winner will profit the most of the added value, taking home an eye-watering €438,000, while the first elimination of the day will receive a consolation prize of €32,000. The first pay jump of the day will happen after one elimination and six-figure payouts are reserved for the top six finishers.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
1
€438,000
2
€296,000
3
€197,500
4
€161,500
5
€129,500
6
€100,500
7
€74,500
8
€54,500
9
€43,500
10-11
€36,500
12
€32,000
The PLO Grand Slam marquee tournament's third and final day will kick off at 2 p.m. local time. The blinds will be at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante, and all levels will be 60 minutes long, with a break after every two levels.
A new Diamond Poker Series champion will be crowned today, so stay tuned as PokerNews will report all the four-card action straight from the tournament floor.
