Kyle Julius Snags Lead at WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic

Kyle Julius took the chip lead at the end of Day 3 of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, giving him pole position with just 49 players remaining. However, he’s closely followed by a legend of the game and a recent WSOP Main Event November Nine member, both of whom are hungry for a World Poker Tour title.

Julius took the lead and the end of Day 3, moving up to just over 1.45 million in chips. The only other player above the 1 million mark is Soi Nguyen, who finished 9^th in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event. Nguyen is in strong position, with 1.38 million in chips.

However, most of the attention at the top of the leaderboard is likely to go to Antonio Esfandiari. The Magician has over $4.5 million in career live tournament earnings, including two previous WPT titles and a WSOP bracelet. While Esfandiari is far behind the leaders with 805,000 chips, that’s still good enough for 3^rd place.

All of the players still remaining in the field are guaranteed to make the money, as the top 100 finishers were all guaranteed to cash. The remaining players have already locked in $15,922, with the eventual winner taking home $821,612.

Plenty of other big names are still in the hunt as well. Amazingly, six of the remaining 49 players are former WPT champions, including Scott Clements (5^th place, 563,500 chips), David Williams, Dwyte Pilgrim, Jonathan Little and Matt Giannetti. Other big name pros with healthy stacks include Matt Glantz, Vanessa Selbst and Allen Cunningham. David Pham and Allen Kessler are also alive, though they’re both on short stacks.

Day Three saw several strong players hit the rail after making the money. Kevin Saul was the last elimination of the day, finishing in 50^th place. Earlier in the day, Andrew Robl, Alan Goehring, Freddy Deeb, Carlos Mortensen, Shaun Deeb, and Will Failla saw their dreams ended, though not without some consolation cash.

Day Four will see the remaining players play five more levels. The final table should be reached on Saturday, with the televised final table of six players battling it out for the title on Sunday.