Mike Wattel raised from under the gun and was called by Ray Dehkharghani in the big blind.
Dehkharghani led out for a bet on the 9♣J♠8♥ flop and Wattel raised all in. Dehkharghani called and hands were revealed.
Mike Wattel: J♥J♣
Ray Dehkharghani: 10♥9♠
Wattel was in good shape with top set and remained ahead on the K♠ turn, however, the Q♠ river filled Dehkharghani's straight and Wattel was eliminated.
Action folded to Joao Vieira in the small blind who opted to raise. Josh Arieh was in the big blind and called.
The K♦8♥2♠ flop landed and Vieira bet. Arieh didn't think long and called.
The 3♦ landed on the turn and Vieira slowed down and checked. Arieh took the opportunity and bet. Vieira called.
The river brought a brick in the 2♣ and Vieira checked again. Arieh bet one more time and Vieira went into the tank for a moment before putting in the chips. Arieh tabled 10♦10♣ and Vieira quickly mucked.
Day 3 of the Event #80: $3,000 $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas returns with just 15 hopefuls. The total prize pool landed at $2,632,000 with the top prize paying $711,313.
The chance for a WSOP gold bracelet is an exciting opportunity for any player but the final 15 of the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller has no shortage of bracelets won by its remaining runners. The last of the field has a combined 36 bracelets with nine players having multiple titles. John Hennigan and Brian Hastings have the most out of the remaining players with six each. While three players, Hal Rotholz, Yingui Li, and Allen Kessler will be fighting for their first one.
The chip leaders going into Day 3 will be a tie between Portuguese Pro Joao Vieira and Chinese crusher Yingui Li who will both enter with 2,595,000 chips. However, most eyes will be on the sub-400,000 short stacks of Scott Seiver and Mike Wattel as the payouts begin to rapidly increase with each elimination.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Joao Vieira
Portugal
2,595,000
1
Yingui Li
China
2,595,000
3
Josh Arieh
United States
2,040,000
4
John Hennigan
United States
1,588,000
5
Hal Rotholz
United States
1,525,000
6
Matt Grapenthien
United States
1,390,000
7
Dan Heimiller
United States
1,360,000
8
Mike Matusow
United States
705,000
9
Brian Hastings
United States
600,000
10
Johannes Becker
Germany
570,000
Yingui Li spent most of Day 2 grinding a middling stack into a chip leading stack through great play, patience, and some good card distribution. This same opportunity to run up to the chip leader is available to all remaining players. As we know, anyone can go on a run in a stud variant or scoop a couple of hi-lo pots and be right in the mix for the championship spot.
Yingui Li
Will one of the players without bracelet come out the victor in this prestigious event to get their first title? Will an established WSOP pro with multiple bracelets win another? Only time will tell as the cards go in the air for Day 3 at 2 p.m. local time. The remaining players will come back to Level 21 with blinds of 30,000-60,000 and limits of 60,000-120,000 in flop games and stud games having a 15,000 ante, 20,000 bring-in, 60,000 completion, and limits at 60,000-120,000, and they will play down to a winner.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor of the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E. High Roller finale.
